Possible's Protectors
by TheImmortalGriffin
Summary: Crossover. When the Bug war takes on a twist for Sergeant Kimberly Possible that results in the loss of the squad leader, she is quickly promoted to Lieutenant and given command of the now renamed "Gateman's Guards". Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1 Loss of a Great Man

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

"COME ON APES!" Lieutenant Robert Gateman shouted at his squad.

"YOU HEARD THE LIEUTENANT! ADVANCE TOWARD THE RIDGE!" Sergeant Kimberly Possible, the squad's top-kick rallied the soliders.

It was day 383 of the SICON-Arachnid interstellar war and Lt. Gateman's squad, Gateman's Guards (Delta Squad), were on Talus, clearing out a bug mound that lead toward a cliff line.

Pulse rifles blazing, the 8-person squad pushed the arachnid warriors back, picking them off, one by one. Until the last one fell off the cliff.

"CEASE FIRE" Lt. Gateman ordered and the squad obeyed, lowering their rifles. The Lt. walked over to Corporal Ronald Stoppable

"Corporal, get on the horn, tell the _Grand Canyon_ we need evac. Area clear"

"Sir, yes, sir" the Cpl responded and walked off to grab the comm kit

"Well, Sergeant, another bug mound clear" Kim smiled

"Yes, sir. I think we can say mission accomplished"

"Not yet, Sergeant. But we have cleared this continent, next stop..." he pauses and looks up "PLAMSA FIRE!! TAKE COVER!" sure enough, a few seconds later, the area is pelted by bug plasma fire. Kim, Ron and their close friend and fellow trooper and squad-mate, Private Bonnie Rockwaller manage to get behind the rocks and avoid the massive heat and fire from the plasma impacts. But unknown to them, the rest of the squad wasn't so lucky. Kim taps her helmets comm system

"Delta team to _Grand Canyon_. Delta team to _Grand Canyon_"

"This is _Grand Canyon_. Go ahead Delta"

"This is Sergeant Possible, we are under heavy fire from plasma bugs. Requesting immediate evac"

"Negative Delta, area's too hot. Hold your ground"

"We can't. We move and we'll get shredded. WE NEED EVAC!"

"I'll see what I can do. _Grand Canyon_ out"

"I... Ah hell" she looks around at her two squad mates "Dig in, we're gonna be here awhile"

After a few minutes, the plasma fire eases up and the three troopers stand up and look around, their eyes open wide.

"Oh, my, god" the powersuits that were occupied by the rest of the squad are lying on the ground. Kim hopes that she is wrong, but every fiber in her body is telling her that she is right. She goes up to Lt. Gateman's powersuit and flips down her visor, then does the same for the rest of the troopers

"Well?" Ron asks, fearing the answer as Kim's suit sensors scan the powersuits, looking for signs of life. She lowers her head and flips her visor back up

Kim sighs and stands up, shaking her head. Ron, hearing a noise, turns around

"BUGS!!" he's right, arachnid warriors are closing in on them.

Kim and Bonnie whirl around and take aim.

"OPEN FIRE!" she orders and begins to take out the bugs, one by one.

Almost every round shot from the barrels of the pusle rifles hits its mark, but the arachnid warriors are tough bugs and keep coming, they do have a central nerve cluster, that is basically a one-shot-kill mark, but it is quite hard to hit on a moving target.

Ron and Bonnie do the same. It doesn't take much firepower to take out an arachnid warrior, but the greatest advantage the bugs have over the humans is numbers. For every bug the troopers take out, many more take it's place and so on and so on.

"Sarge, what do we do?" Ron asks, Kim thinks for a minute

"FALL BACK!" she orders and the three start moving back towards the cliff.

Just as they are about to reach the cliff and Kim is about to order grapple lines, a transport craft comes up and over, into their view with the cargo platform lowered

"This is transport _Pacific_, hurry up!" Kim smiles

"JUMP JETS!" she orders, the three troopers hit the jet activation button and fly onto the cargo platform, landing safely the small jets retract into the powersuit's backpacks and Kim speaks over the comm to the pilot

"PILOT, GO!" as the platform retracts up into the belly of the transport, the three surviving members of Gateman's Guards slouch on the benches inside, still in shock over what has just transpired.

Back on the _Grand Canyon_, the remainder of Gateman's Guards head to their locker room. Kim removes her helmet and shakes her head about, letting her auborn red hair flow free from her helmet

"Oh, feels good to be out of that stuffy powersuit" she remarks. While Talus is an oxygen rich planet and doesn't require fully sealed powersuits, combat armor is still needed and having to wear it for three days straight isn't really liked by the troopers. Bonnie takes off her helmet and slides off her shoulder pads, letting her short brown hair loose. She sits down on the bench in the locker room

"I can't believe he's gone" her arms are resting on her knees and her head is looking down at the floor, eyes closed. She had come to rely on Lieutenant Gateman for inspiration since she's been assigned to him along with Kim and Ron after basic. After all, she's had a massive falling out with her family before she left for boot. Her parents bascially disowned her for deciding to join SICON and as far as she was concerned, if they didn't want to support her in her decision, she wanted nothing more to do with them, either. Kim had been a different story, her mother was a SICON general, her direct superior actually, aside from Lieutenant Gateman and her father, while he did work for SICON, he worked in the R&D division of the millitary. Her parents might've disowned her if she hadn't joined the millitary. She had always wanted to be a pilot though, not a trooper. She had dreamed of flying one of the SICON cruisers or fighters, but she had been assigned to the Mobile Infantry, something she complained to her mother about, but nothing had been done about it. Ron's parents weren't overly happy with him joining the millitary, but had smiled and accepted his decision.

Kim and Ron had been best friends since forever and had been suprised when they had ended up in basic training together. Even more suprised that they had been assigned to the same unit together, but Kim had a hunch that her mother had a hand to play in that. Bonnie and Kim had never gotten along, but during basic it became clear to Kim that she needed a friend. So Kim had put their past behind her and been nice. Bonnie eventually accpted it and the two were now really good friends. When she had been assigned along with Kim and Ron to the Guards, she made a friend out of the Lieutenant and he had been her inspiration, he reminded her of what they were fighting for.

Kim sat down beside Bonnie

"I know, he was a good man" a younger officer entered the locker room

"Sergeant, you got a call" Kim nodded that she heard and got up, leaving Ron and Bonnie together.

"Hey, mom" Kim said to her mother, who was sitting behind her desk back at SICON headquarters on Earth. General Anne Possible looked right at the screen

"Kim, I may be your mother, but I'm also your superior"

"Sorry" Kim sucked up her chest and saluted "General Possible, sir" it still felt weird to say that

"Better, Sergeant" Anne returned the salute "How did it go on Talus?"

"Not good. Five troopers down, including the Lieutenant. Only me, Ro... Corporal Stoppable and Private Rockwaller surived, barely" Kim kept forgetting to call them by their rank and last name around her superiors

"I see. Other than that?"

"Mission accomplished. Assigned mounds are clear"

"Good"

"So what do we do know? With the L.t. gone..."

"I don't know. Let me chat with the rest of SICON brass and get back to you" she signed off, her image on the screen replaced by the SICON logo

"Alright then" Kim muttered and walked off, back to the locker room.

Later the next day, Kim is wearing the black SICON armband that troopers wear to honor their fallen comrades, however Kim is just wearing one that says R.G. for Robert Gateman, the squad leader. Though she, Bonnie and Ron should be wearing five, one for each one of their fallen comrades, they decided just to wear one for their former Lieutenant. She is again chatting with her mother, General Anne Possible, from the comm room on the _Grand Canyon_

"Well, this is another one you owe me" the general grins

"Care to explain?" Kim asks, a little confused

"Well, I managed to convince the brass not to split up your squad"

"Nice, whose the new Lieutenant?"

"That's a bit of a wrinkle"

"Meaning?"

"We don't have any Lieutenants to spare for you"

"What? This means we're going into inactive duty, right? Man, I hoped that would never happen"

"No, Means that you are getting promoted"

"WHAT?" Kim had never expected to hear that

"Congradulations, Lieutenant" the General smiles at her daughter

"Me? An L.t.?" Kim looks at her mother "If this is a joke..."

"No joke, I promise. You are getting a battlefield promotion"

"Thanks mom. But I gotta know, why? With the war going the way it's going..."

"I know how well you three work together. It would take too much time for you to build up that same working level with a new squad, it's in SICON's best interests to keep you three together"

"Thanks, mom"

"Ahem"

"Er, thank you, General"

"Better. Oh and the _Grand Canyon_ is being diverted to Centauri to pick up four new troopers for your squad"

"We're getting stuck with freshies?"

"Yes, Lieutenant. We don't have any other troopers to assign to your squad" the general takes on a more stern tone

"Fine" Kim isn't too happy

"Good. After you pick them up, you'll be headed to the Jovia, they have an asteroid headed their way and our crusiers can't get close enough because of plasma fire. Take it out"

"Yes, Ma'am"

"Oh and one more thing, you might wanna think of a new name for your unit"

"Yes, Ma'am" Anne smiles and signs off, Kim sits back in her chair, stunned "Me, an Lt. Who would've thought?" she stands up "Better tell Ron and Bonnie" she walks off

Bonnie and Ron are awaiting the news of the fate of their team, both laying back on their bunks

"Yeah, been in touch with the fam quite a bit. They're worried about me, but haven't filed any requests to try and get me home" Ron smiles at Bonnie "What about you? Any contact with your family?" Bonnie looks away

"No, still haven't spoken to them since before boot"

"Bonnie, it's been over a year"

"Your point?"

"It's just that..." Kim walks in

"On your feet, apes" She orders, Ron and Bonnie stand at attention, Kim smiles "At ease, just felt like doing that"

"So, what's the word, Sarge?"

"That's Lieutenant to you" Kim grins a very smug grin

"No way. They made you an L.t.?"

"Yeah, Sergeant" she looks at Ron

"Me?"

"Squad needs a top-kick" Kim shrugs and grins "I guess you'll do"

"I dunno, Kim, you sure?" Kim puts her hand on his shoulder

"Yes" is all she says

"Booyah" he replies, Kim looks at Bonnie

"I need a squad leader"

"ME?" Kim nods

"I... I... I don't know what to say"

"Well, you can either accept or deny and make me promote one of the freshies that'll be joining the squad when we hit Centauri"

"I'll do it" Bonnie grins

"I thought you might. Dissmissed" Ron and Bonnie salute their new Lt

"Hey, Kim?"

"Yeah, Ron?"

"We keeping the old squad name?"

"Naw, I'll think of something better" Kim smiles and lays down on her bunk. All three soon drift off into the light slumber that is common of M.I. troopers.


	2. Chapter 2 Enter the Protectors

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

As the _Grand Canyon_ docks at the Centauri starbase, newly promoted Lieutenant Kimberly Possible, Sergeant Ronald Stoppable and Corporal Bonnie Rockwaller are at the airlock

"Hey, L.t., I meant to ask, what's the new squad name?" Ron asks Kim

"Possible's Protectors" Kim answers

"Huh?"

"Yeah, mom thought it up"

"Must be nice having a mother as a general" Bonnie comments

"Ugh, not really. Now I **HAVE** to do what she says" Kim groans and tries not to laugh, Ron and Bonnie let out a chuckle

"Airlock secure" comes over the comm

"Here we go" Kim stands ready, fully geared up in her powersuit, her helmet under her right arm, Ron and Bonnie are in a similar position in front of her.

As the door opens, Bonnie steps into the opposing airlock, where four troopers are standing

"OFFICER ON THE DECK!" Bonnie barks, the troops come to attention, Kim's personality goes into command mode as she walks in front of the new troopers, Ron walks beside her

"I told SICON I wanted troopers" she says, her face showing dissapointment "Not wimps. The things I have to put up with" she shoots Ron a look, he stifles a laugh "I guess you'll do till I find some real troopers" she puts her hands on her hips and smiles "Welcome to the Protectors" she turns to walk out, but stops short and looks back "Gather your gear, we ship out in one hour, SICON command has a job for us. Dismissed" the new troopers salute and walk away.

"Listen up, apes" Kim is briefing her squad as the _Grand Canyon_ heads toward their mission "SICON has found a loose asteroid heading toward Jovia, but bug plasma fire is making it impossible to get close enough with cruisers to nuke it, so we're being sent in"

"Why doesn't SICON just send in bombers?" Private Adrianne Volcors asks

"Well, Private, seems they don't want to risk their bombers with this kind of mission and besides, bombers couldn't get deep enough to take it out. Our job is to dropsuit in and make our way to the asteroid's core, taking out any plasma bugs we may find along the way. We will lay timed atomics and get out" the hologram of the asteroid disappears. "Privates Hellena and Timbers" both look up at the Lieutenant "I've been told that out of this group, you two have had the most time in the marauders, correct?" Private Max Hellena looks up at Kim and nods

"Yes, Ma'am. I've done almost a hundred hours in an Cargo Marauder"

"Good, you're on the ape then. Private Timbers?"

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"You're on the Long-range" Timbers nods "We land in 10 hours people, get rested. I do not want any screw ups. Dismissed" Kim nods that they are dismissed and the troopers get up, Ron walks over to Kim

"Nice"

"Yeah, here's hoping I'm as good a leader in combat" she sighs, Bonnie puts her gloved hand on Kim's shoulder pad

"You'll be fine" she smiles at the L.t.

Drop down to the surface is one of the funnest things to do, you are strapped into an oversized, bulky, heatresistant suit and thrown out of a dropship. At 2-4 Kilometers above the surface, the dropsuit breaks away and your powersuit's jumpjets take over slowing your decsent.

The alarm sounds, the very deep bass "beep beep beep beep" the computer comes on over the comm

"All personell report to battle stations. All personell report to battle stations"

"MOVE OUT!" Kim orders

The troopers arrive in the main launch bay and board their dropship. The computer comes back on over the comm

"Lockdown in final phase" the ships computer advises over the comm system "Lockdown complete. Prepare for launch" the dropship flies out of the launch bay with Kim and the newly assembled Protectors aboard

"Flight stable. Two minutes to drop" the pilot says to the squad inside the hold, the harnesses holding the troopers in place release, Kim stands up and walks over to the L.t.'s position to begin the brief

"Alright, we'll be dropping here, into this canyon" she points the target out on the holomap "After we drop, we proceed along this route and enter the interior of the asteroid here" again, another dot on the map. The map turns sideways and goes 3D "We will then proceed along this passageway until we reach to core. Intel has determined that we shouldn't face a lot of bugs, but it is intel, so expect them to be wrong" She stifles a smiles and looks around "Privates Hellena and Timbers will be in the marauders and will, along with Sergeant Stoppable, seperate from the squad when we enter the cave. Your mission is to locate and terminate the plasma bugs around here" Kim waves her gloved finger over the holographic terrain "The area is flat enough that we can get a retrieval chopper down, but they will not land until you have terminated the plasma's, understand?" all the troopers nod "Very good. Sergeant, move 'em out" Ron stands up as Kim moves toward her dropsuit position

"YOU HEARD THE LIEUTENANT, MOVE IT" he barks, holding his rifle. The pilot comes over the comm

"We're over drop coordinates" all the troopers move into the tubes and step into the large shoes while the large, grey, heat resistant dropsuit forms over them. "All troopers, drop"

Outside, the hatches on the bottom of the dropship opens and five dropsuits fly out as well as the two marauders, down toward the surface of the asteroid.

At the altitude of 4 kilometers, Kim gives the order to break suits and as the thick-steel dropsuits break away, she gets her first real good look at their target. As the rest of the squad quickly engages their powersuit jump jets, Kim lets herself fall for another kilometer or so past the rest of the squad.

The landing on the surface is easier than usual, both due to the fact that the asteroid has no atmosphere and lower gravity than a planet, but it still requires the use of jump jets to land safely.

"Private Hellena, scan the area, find our entrance" Kim orders Pvt. Hellena who nods and begins a scan of the area

"Take a couple minutes, Lieutenant, but we'll have a map of every tunnel on this rock" he says to Kim

"Good. In the mean time, I want everyone's eyes open wide for any signs of the enemy. Make sure to ID your target before firing" she waves her hand around in front of her, motioning for the squad to spread out in a wide perimiter pattern. Kim looks around at her squad and notices that Pvt. Mallak is uneasy, even looks terrified. She walks over,still looking around for any signs of the bugs

"Private?" he stiffens up

"Sir"

"At ease. What's up, you seem lost"

"Sorry, ma'am. Permission to speak freely?" Kim nods "I don't want to be here, I want to be back on Earth. I never wanted to enlist, it was my parents idea" he shakes his head and looks down, letting his rifle fall to his side, Kim steps forward

"Look, I can sympatize. I'd rather been in pilots seat of a crusier, hell I'd even take a fighter or a dropship. But we're here, now, and we have a job to do. So as long as we are here and we have a job to do, I expect everyone in this squad to his or her job, understand?" He nods "Good. Dismissed" he turns and walks off, seeming much more focused now, Kim is going to smile, but is interrupted

"Lt! I have the scan of the area. Looks like the entry point is point three klicks west" Kim looks up at the marauder

"Good work" she looks around at her squad, who have all pulled back to her position "Alright protectors, let's move out. Sergeant, you're on point" Kim points in the direction they are headed, Ron nods and runs to the front of the squad.

The trip to the cave entrance is suprisingly easy, once they arrive, Kim turns to brief the squad

"Alright. This rock is going to impact in just less than 24 hours, so even though, I want no screw ups. Marauders and Sergeant Stoppable, don't forget your task" Ron acknowledges his assignment

"Yes, yes. Take out the plasma bug positions so we can get a retrieval chopper down here" Kim nods

"Right. We will set the charges for a two hour delay. That should give us enough time to get out" she looks around "Everyone clear?" the rest of the squad nods "Good. Everyone move out"

Ron and the marauders go off in one direction, away from the cave. It's not long before Pvt. Hellena gets bored and tries to strike up a conversation

"So, Sergeant, how long have you know the Lt?"

"Me and Kim go way back"

"Basic?"

"No, Way farther back. We..." he is about to continue but looks up and spots some movement "Target acuisition!" he points up at a ridgeline, the long-rang aka "Duck" marauder moves in and it soon becomes clear

"BUGS!" Pvt. Timbers yells at the squad's top-kick. Ron kneels down and takes aim

"FIRE AT WILL" he orders as the pass they are going through becomes filled with arachnid warriors.

After a few minutes of concentrated fire, Ron decides to go all in, strapping his rifle to his powersuit's backpack and pulls out the grenade launcher, firing a few rounds into the fray of bugs, many of which are torn to shreds by the explosive force

"WE CANNOT HOLD THIS POSITION!" he yells over the deafening noise of both the bugs and the gunfire "MARAUDERS! FIREWALL!" he points his finger at the bugs. Both marauder pilots nod and unleash a barrage of missiles from the small walkers.

The missiles fly towards their targets and impact with devistating force taking out many of the bugs that remained, the rest are picked off by the marauder's pulse cannons.

"Close one" Ron remarks.

Below the surface, Kim and the rest of the squad are having a harder time achieving their objective. The bugs are coming at them from all directions and they can't risk firing off grenades or rockets, in case they might collapse the tunnels in on the squad.

Kim gets down on one knee and takes aim at an approaching arachnid, she's always been a good shot and this time is no exception, she hits the bug's central nerve cluster with one shot, it falls to the ground, dead. She smiles and begins picking off the rest of them.

Pvt. Adrianne Volcors finds herself on her own, holding the bugs off on one side by herself. Luckily her side is getting the least amout of bugs, but still almost more than she can handle. She takes a shot, her the muzzle flash from her rifle is almost blinding in these dark tunnels. Two more bugs down. She can feel the sweat beading down her skin on the inside of the powersuit.

After another few minutes of this, Kim is getting annoyed and a little bit desperate, not a good combination when you're packing explosives. She makes a decsion she hopes she won't regret

"CORPORAL! COLLAPSE THE SIDE TUNNELS!" Bonnie nods and grabs the Javelin launcher, targeting the roof sections of the tunnels adjacent to the squad's position. She hesitates and lowers the launcher, targeting a farther back area

"CORPORAL, NOW!" Kim orders, placing a few shots into another bug. Bonnie fires. The missile hits it's target on the mark and a ton of rock comes crashing down on top of the already massive pile of dead bugs, blocking the tunnel off from any other access

Sgt. Stoppable and the two marauders have managed to locate the clearing where the planned pick up is supposed to happen. They can clearly tell the way they came from all the bug carcuses they left behind

"All right, we need to locate those plasmas" He looks up at Timber's marauder and she gets the idea.

Ron is about to suggest a sweep of the area when from over the ridge, the eerily familier blue glow emerges and flies overhead. The marauders turn to face Ron, who makes the hand gesture to move toward the cliff quietly.

As he approaches the cliff, the marauders, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention, fall back to avoid being seen. Ron moves to look down over the cliff and flips down his visor to get a better scan of the area. The valley is filled with arachnid warriors and plasma bugs, the visor ID's the targets.

"Ok, I can see ten plasmas and I can't even count how many warriors. Ideas?" he turns and looks up at the marauders

"Soon as we start firing, they're gonna be all over us"

"We could bombard them from here" Hellena suggests

"Maybe. If we could start a chain reaction along the plasmas, it would take out the whole valley" Timbers puts in

"No, We don't have the firepower"

"With all due respect, sir, we don't really have a choice, do we? The Lieutenant wants these plasmas gone and bombarding them from here is the safest way to do that"

"I know" Ron shakes his head and stands up "Alright, I'll climb up that higher cliff and mark the targets. When they're marked, fire clusters" both troopers nod that they head the Sergeant.

Ron begins to climb, muttering to himself

"I hope this works"

"How much farther, Private?" Kim asks Pvt. Volcors, while waving her rifle around a corner

"500 meters, Lieutenant" she responds, looking at the small device in her left palm "At the end of this tunnel, we turn left and go for about 50 meters, that's the sweet spot"

"Good work" Kim would've turned around and smiled at the trooper, but this really wasn't the time.

"L.t.! This is the spot" Volcors reported

"Alright, Private Volcors, lay the nukes. Rest of you, area cover!" everyone nods that they heard the Lieutenant and begin to move off. Kim kneels down beside Volcors "How long?"

"Gimmie a couple minutes, sir"

"Alright. I have a visual on targets. Stand by for coordinates" Ron says over the radio while the marauders prep for multi-missile burst

"Sergeant, all missiles ready"

"Good. I have my launcher too" Ron takes one last look around the valley with his visor to make sure he didn't miss any targets

"Sir?"

"Ok, fire on my mark. 3...2...1... FIRE!"

The Pvt. Timbers in the Long-Range marauder opens up the missile battery on the marauder's back with a flurry of almost a dozen missiles. All of them fly up and over the ridge, being guided by Ron's powersuit sensors.

"Okay, done. Nukes are in place and buried" Pvt. Volcors reports to Kim

"Good, let's get out of here. OK APES, Move out" Kim waves her rifle in the direction that they came. As she begins to walk, she is almost taken out by a warrior. The troopers move to engage, but Bonnie stops them

"I got it" Bonnie flips down her visor and looks at the bug, which has Kim in it's jaws

"Bonnie, FIRE!" Bonnie looks up in frustration

"I CAN'T GET A CLEAN SHOT!"

"DOESN'T MATTER! JUST DON'T KILL ME!"

"But, L.t..."

"THAT IS AN ORDER CORPORAL!" Kim is flying about as the bug attempts to kill her

"Fine" Bonnie flips down her visor, which warns her that she is about to hit an MI troopers, but she ignores it and fires.

The shot hits it's mark, the arachnid's central nerve cluster. However it also goes through Kim's right arm just before hitting.

"You okay, Kim?" Bonnie asks after Kim has gotten up and Pvt. Mallak has put a seal over her suit holes

"Yeah" Kim clutches her arm. But her suit has been patched, so she won't suffocate "That hurt like hell though"

"Hey, I was following orders" Bonnie protests, Kim looks at her "...Just for the record, sir" Kim chuckles

"I know, Corporal. Move 'em out"

"Yes, Ma'am" Bonnie turns back to the squad "ALRIGHT, MOVE IT. Volcors, you're on point, Mallak, take our six" both troopers nod and take their positions "You sure your ok?" Bonnie is concerned for her C.O.

"It's my arm, I'll be fine"


	3. Chapter 3 Escape the Fire

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

Kim and her squad are running down the tunnel, avoiding the bugs as much as they can, when suddenly, the cavern they are in begins to shake and rumble

''What the hell?" Kim looks around "MOVE IT!" she yells at her squad. Kim looks over at Pvt. Volcors "How far?"

"If we run, about twenty minutes"

"Not good enough" Kim thinks for a minute while she runs "How thin does the cave get around here?"

"Because of the canyons and what..."

"Short answer, please"

"Five meters to the surface about 50 meters thatway" she points to her left

"You sure?"

"Positive, sir

"OK, move it. Corporal, break out the launchers" Bonnie nods and holsters her rifle, grabbing the Javalin launcher in the process "Volcors, give the Corporal the target coordinates" the Pvt. nods and goes up to Bonnie, pointing out where she should fire

"Here and here should create a breach big enough for us to fit through" the Pvt. walks back to Kim, who is taking a brief rest "All set"

"Good. How far is the evac point from here?" The solider checks her scanner

"One point one klicks that way" she points behind her, the way Bonnie is facing, Kim is going to respong, but Bonnie interrupts

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

After the dust cloud clears, Kim calls for the squad to check in

"REPORT!"

"Corporal Rockwaller here"

"SICON Private Mallak still alive"

"Private Adrianne Volcors here, L.t."

"Good, the tunnel?" Pvt. Volcors gets up and walks over, shining her headlamp in the direction of the missile

"Looks good, L.t.. But I don't know how long it'll hold"

"Then we better get going" Kim remarks, standing up

"SARGE, BUGS!" the marauders are taking defensive positions while a massive army of warriors bear down on them, Ron is still at the top of the ridge

"I see them. How much ammo you have left?" Ron inquires

"Not a whole lot and we're running out of juice here"

"Alright, I'm coming back. Hold them off as long as possible"

"Wouldn't do it any other way" Ron doesn't even try to hold back the small smile that forms as he climbs down the cliff.

It doesn't take as long to get back down and soon Ron is firing his weapon alongside the marauders, but they are running low.

"Sarge, I only got a few rounds left"

"Same here"

"Alright. Here's what we do. We keep firing until we run out"

"Then what?"

"If we die, we die like troopers. Fight them hand to hand if you have to" Ron lowers his head and narrows his eyes, putting a evil/really pissed off look on his face

"Yes, sir"

"Use every round you have. FIREWALL NOW!" the marauders fire another round of the explosive rounds. They hit and detonate, creating the wall of flame that gives them their name, but it soon dissipates and the bugs again begin to charge.

"I'm out" Ron sighs and stands up, to await the inevitable. But it never comes. Instead he hears pulse rifle blasts and arachnids screeching and dying combined with rocket blasts

"Did you guys find more ammo or something?" he looks up at the marauders

"No, but looks like the L.t. did" Max points up at a cliff running parallel to the canyon. Kim is walking down.

When she gets close, Ron salutes

"At ease, Sergeant"

"You done?"

"Yeah. Let's get off this rock" she looks up at the marauders "Patch in, call for retrieval" Pvt. Timbers nods and goes to work

"Kim, you ok?" Ron points to her arm, the dark green powersuit is stained red

"Huh? Oh that, no big" she smiles.

Back on the _Grand Canyon_, the squad is getting out of their powersuits while Kim chats with the general

"Good work, Lieutenant. You saved many lives today" General Possible

"Thanks. Where we headed next?"

"While you were playing on that rock, there was, a development"

"Care to define, please?"

"We believe Alpha team has found the bug homeworld"

"Alpha? Those guys get all the fun" Kim smirks

"Yes, well. We're diverting every available ship and trooper to Klendathu for the invasion" A holo chart with the _Grand Canyon_'s position pops up, then zoomed out and a planet pops up "This is Klendathu, bug homeworld"

"It's gonna take us a couple days to get there"

"Yes, I know"

"Alright. I assume you've informed the ship's C.O.?" Anne nods

"Once your resupply is done, your ship will head out and meet up with the rest of the fleet for the invasion"

"Alright"

"I will contact you when you arrive in-system"

"Ok, thanks general"

"Lieutenant" Anne signs off. Kim chuckles to herself

"Damn Alphas, having all the fun"

"OFFICER ON THE DECK" Cpl Rockwaller announces Kims arrival in the Protectors locker room

"At ease people. We got good news and bad news. The bad news is that for the next three days we pull watch duty aboard the ship"

"And the good news?" Volcors asks

"The good news is that Alpha team, while playing around like the apes they are, apparently found the bug homeworld. Once our resupply is done, we head out for Klendathu and we should be there in time for the main invasion. So get rested, once we get there, we're back in the fight and I want no yawning from anyone. General Possible will fill in the details to me after we arrive. So don't ask what we're doing. Dismissed" she turns and walks out.

Once Kim is gone, Pvt. Timbers leans over to Ron

"Did she say General Possible?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We report to two Possible's?"

"Yep. General Anne Possible is Kim's mother and a total babe" Ron smiles. Bonnie shoots him a look

"SERGEANT!" Ron's skin goes pale and his eyes widen

"Crap, did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did" Kim walks in "Sorry, forgot my helmet. And Sergeant?"

"Yeah?" Ron squeaks

"That is both my mother and your superior that you are talking about. Be best to watch what you say"

"Yeah, sure L.t." Kim smiles to herself and walks out of the bunk room. In reality, she doesn't really care, she just enjoys seeing him squirm like that.

"Oh you are in for it now, sarge" Hellena chuckles

"Oh quiet" Ron turns over in his bunk while the rest of the squad laughs their heads off.

"So, how are things on Earth?" Kim is taking to her mother again, but this time she isn't talking to General Anne Possible, SICON command general for the Protectors and she isn't Lieutenant Kimberly Possible, she is talking to Anne Possible, her mother as Kim Possible, daughter.

"Fine, the new gardens are coming around the back of the house

"Good, how's Dad?"

"Your father is out, he had to meet with his research division"

"That sounds like dad" Kim smiles "And the tweebs?"

"Your brothers are out at a friends, but they told me to say hi for them"

"Well tell them I said hi. I don't know when my next off time will be, but it'll be nice to get home, even for only a few days"

"It'll be good to see you again in person"

"Yeah, but as I said, I don't know when that will be. Unless my General mother could find out for me"

"KIM!"

"I'm kidding mom, chill" Kim clutches her arm, the pain from the shot earlier is still around

"You ok, Kimmie?"

"Me? I'm fine. Took a pulse rifle round to the arm, but okay"

"What happened?"

"Got in the jaws of a bug and Bonnie had to shoot it, but the shot had to go through my arm, no big"

"So you don't want me to file insubordination charges?" Anne smiles, she is joking

"No, thank you"

"You're hiding something"

"I am not" Kim goes on the defensive, but has a hard time keeping herself from giggling, Ron's comment is still on her mind.

"Kim, I'm your mother remember? I can tell"

"Fine. Off the record?"

"Of course"

"Ron made a comment after we last talked that was amusing"

"So?"

"More than usual"

"What? I'm dying to know here" Kim takes a minute to compose herself

"He called you a babe" she lets all the laugher she has bottled up since she heard him, out, Anne blushes

"I'm flattered"

"I thought you might be. But don't tell dad" Kim calms down, or rather, she tries to

"I won't"

"You know dad, he might throw Ron into the bug cages at R&D"

"He probably would" The ships alarm sounds, Kim is still chuckling

"I better check this. Chat with you later, mom"

"Bye Kimmie" she signs off.

On the bridge, people are running about as Kim enters

"What's up?" she asks the commander

"We've spotted a transport bug. It's heading right towards us" Kim goes into battle mode, all the thoughts about her conversation with her mother and Ron's comment are pushed into the back of her head, far from her concious thoughts

"We need fighter pilots" he looks down at Kim

"Me? But I'm an ape"

"I know you've always wanted to fly. And besides, most of our pilots are in the deep freeze still from the mission to Talus"

"Good point"

"So?"

"I'm on my way" Kim runs out of the bridge "I'll assign my squad turret duty"

"See that you do, Lieutenant"

"Lieutenant, what's going on?" Pvt. Timbers asks

"Transport bug headed right for us. All of you except for Corporal Rockwaller and I will head for the ships turrets"

"Kim, where are you and Bonnie going?" Ron asks, Kim looks at him with a twinkle in her eye

"Fighter bays" she says and nods to Bonnie, who nods back and both women run off.

"Kim, are you sure about this?" Bonnie asks over the radio as she is strapped into her own fighter

"Piece of cake, Corporal. We trained on the sims"

"Yeah, for strafing and bombing runs, not space combat"

"You'll do fine, Bonnie. Just stick on my wing and do what I tell you"

"As I always do, L.t."

"Atta trooper" Kim smiles and signals the officer of the deck that they are ready for takeoff

Bonnie is terrified, but has always, just as Kim, wanted to fly one of these things in a space battle. But she resigned herself to the thought that she never would get the chance long ago. Now being thrust, litterally, into the pilots seat of a SICON fighter, she is terrified and can only pray that she doesn't screw up, realizing that if she does, it could mean the end of her life or worse, the end of her C.O.'s life or anyone else onboard the _Grand Canyon_.

"Ok, Bonnie, snap out of it" she says to herself and it helps, until the deck officer comes over the radio and counts down the launch

"3...2...1...LAUNCH!" her fighter is thrown out into space.

Bonnie just cruises for a minute until Kim snaps her out

"CORPORAL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Bonnie shakes her head and takes control of the craft

"Sorry, Kim. I guess..."

"What, that you never would actually get to fly one of these and now that you are you're terrified?"

"That about covers it"

"Get over it Corporal. That is a direct order. Don't make me section eight you, because I would really rather not have to" Bonnie can tell that the Kim that is her friend is gone for now, in her place is the battle hardened solider that is Lieutenant Kimberly Possible

"Aye sir"

"Good. Now take position on my wing"

"Yes, sir. Taking flanking position" Bonnie looks out her cockpit over at Kim and just has to say it "Sir, I guess it doesn't mean anything, but in the sims I never actually properly landed one of these"

"Now you tell me" Kim sighs "Look, after we're done here you can give landing a try, if not, you'll just have to eject" the flight officer comes over the comm

"Cut the chatter. We have Fighter Bugs at 3 O'clock"

"This is Delta lead, moving to engage. You with me over there, Corporal?"

"To the end, sir"

"What I wanted to hear. Flight, I have targets in range, are we cleared to engage?"

"Cleared, Lieutenant. Engage at will"

"Copy, flight. Delta leader engaging" Kim sets her targeting systems "Bonnie, follow me in, any of them get past let them go. After we get through, you take lead and cover me"

"Copy that"

"L.t., this is Ron, guns are manned and ready for defensive fire"

"Copy, Sergeant. Take any Fighter Bugs that get past us. Make sure to use your holo targeting"

"Copy that"

"Flight 1, this is Delta lead, follow me in" Kim orders a small group of pilots "Cover me and the Corporal"

"This is Lieutenant Henderson. We have your back Delta lead. You are cleared for engagement"

"Roger, falling into position. Bonnie fire at will"

"Copy, L.t. Weapons hot"

Bonnie's fighter unleashes a barrage of missiles, all of which find their assigned targets. A large hole is created in the wave of Fighter Bugs, big enough for Kim and Bonnie to fly through while Flight One engages the Fighter bugs in dogfights and Ron and the rest of the Protectors handle the bugs going for the _Grand Canyon_.

"Stay with me over there, Corporal"

"Not going anywhere, sir" Bonnie grins a sadistic grin that would scare a brain bug as she sprays fire from her pulse cannon into a swarm of Fighters, over a dozen are torn to shreds in a matter of seconds

"Now that's the evil Bonnie Rockwallker I know from high school" Kim grins "I knew she'd be back. Take lead, I'm going in for a bombing run"

"Copy that, L.t. Delta three taking position" Bonnie has gotten over her fear of being in the fighter and is actually starting to have fun, she quickly realizes this as she sprays pulse fire into another group of bugs

"Bonnie go for a strafing run along the exterior. I'll follow you in and shove some nukes up their talepipe"

"Sounds good, L.t. Going in for run now"

Bonnie manouvers her small fighter into a direct line towards the giant Transport Bug and then pulls up to glide about ten meters off the organic "hull" of the bug, Kim follows her in, both of them strafing targets along the way

"WAAAHOOOOO!" Bonnie yells as she flies over the oragnic "hull" strafing some arachnid warrior bugs. Kim locks onto her target

"Target lock aquired, releasing nukes. Come on Bonnie, I know your having fun, but pull off, NOW!"

"This is Delta three, pulling away"

The two fighters pull off and fly back toward the _Grand Canyon_, only hoping to escape the blast radius in time. Pushing the engines to max thrust gets them out just in then nick of time as the Transport Bug explodes in a flash of light and a massive shockwave.

"Ok, time to clean up this mess" Kim smiles through her cockpit over at Bonnie "Corporal, take the fight to them"

"With pleasure, Lieutenant" Bonnie's fighter banks and breaks formation from Kim's. Kim chuckles to herself and follows in, her pulse cannon glowing as she sprays rounds into the Fighter Bugs.

"BOOYAH! Another one down" Ron exclaims as yet another Fighter Bug meets it's end with the pulse fire from his cannon

"Having fun, are we Sergeant?" Kim comes over the comm

"Uh, no. Not at all, L.t."

"Riiight" Ron gazes at his holo HUD, looking for his next target

"KIM, one on your six!"

"I see it. I can't shake it, though" Kim is banking left and right, trying to shake the creature. "Corporal, how would you feel about a game of chicken?"

"Bring it, L.t." Bonnie grins

Bonnie and Kim line up their fighters and head towards each other, until they hit about two kilometers and the Kim hits the throttle and dives

"NOW!" she shouts and Bonnie opens fire, barely missing Kim's fighter but hitting the bug.

The commander of the _Grand Canyon_ comes over the comm

"Lieutenant Possible and Corporal Rockwaller, head back to the ship. The defense turrets will handle the rest

"Aye commander" Kim looks out her cockpit window "And we were just starting to have fun. Form up on my wing, Corporal"

"I can agree L.t, forming up on your wing"

Much to her suprise, Bonnie manages to land the fighter without doing too much damage to both her fighter and the cruiser's hanger bay.

The battle continues for another hour or so, but with the transport bug gone, Kim and Bonnie are no longer needed in fighters and take over manning a couple gun positions.

Soon enough, the _Grand Canyon_ is once again on her way to Klendathu, having sustained some damage from the fighter bugs. Though the damage was minimal, a few bugs managed to get a few lucky shots off and the Hyperdrive has been damaged. It still works, but they aren't able to achieve the same speed they would have.


	4. Chapter 4 Late for the Party

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

The _Grand Canyon_ disengages her hyperdrive engines as she enters the Klendathu system. Kim is standing on the command deck while the rest of her squad preps to enter combat.

General Possible comes on the commander's screeen

"You're late" she isn't happy

"Sorry, sir. We ran into a bug problem"

"The invasion has already begun"

"I'll get my squad in a drop ship. We'll be there inside twenty minutes"

"Don't bother, Lieutenant. All other forces have it under control"

"Sir, yes sir" Kim hangs her head, Anne can see that her daughter was hoping to get in on the inital invasion

"We need troopers to help hold the area where we will be setting up base camp" that lifts Kim's spirits

"We will report General"

"Good. General Possible out" She signs off the screen.

"L.t. we dropping?" Ron asks as Kim enters the locker room

"Yeah. Grab your gear, we're taking over guard duty at the site for the new base camp"

"That's it? Sounds like a job for..." Pvt. Timbers started

"It's a job for troopers. And the last time I checked, we are troopers" Kim cut in "I don't like it either, but we have been given a job by command and we will carry out. Is that understood, Private?" Kim pointed her gloved finger at the solider, who nodded reluctantly

"Sir, yes sir"

"Lockdown in final phase. Lockdown complete. Launch in progress" the _Grand Canyon_'s computer speaks over the comm as the dropship with Kim and her squad are on board flies out of the launch tube.

Klendathu, day 98.

"ADVANCE!!" Kim shouted "TAKE 'EM DOWN APES!" she crouched down and kept firing, while slowly advancing toward the enemy.

Possible's Protectors have been, since they arrived on Klendathu, mostly doing patrols around the main camp and only going on a few missions. But now they were cleaning out mounds as part of a larger, planet wide offensive to try and push the bugs back into smaller areas. But they are putting up a hell of a fight.

Sgt. Stoppable is up on the ridgeline, moving around in some of Klendathu's very alien foliage. Hearing a bug screech, he whirls around and sprays fire at an approaching arachnid. It quickly falls down, covered in the green goo that SICON troopers had effectivly named "Bug blood" though only R&D really knew what the proper term was. He looked around again, making sure that he had got them all, he had.

Kim puts her hand on the comm piece of her helmet and speaks

"Sergeant, how far?"

"Half a click, L.t." Ron responds

"Alright, let's keep moving" she motions for the squad to keep going.

"L.t. bug mound at 11 O'clock" Ron reports over the comm

"Good. Any activity?"

"That's a nega... Wait, I got four warriors out front. They can't see us yet" Kim motions for her squad to hold and lower

"Alright" she looks around and right at Bonnie

"Corporal, get up on that ridge with the Sergeant and start sniping"

"Me? Why me?"

"Two reasons. One, I'm giving you an order and two, you have the best record for ranged shooting out of this whole squad. Now go!"

"Fine"

"What was that?" Bonnie gulps

"Sir, yes sir" she gets up and, trying to stay low to the ground, climbs up the ridge to where Ron is. He points out where the targets are and Bonnie lowers herself to the ground to get better aim.

The SICON powersuit's visor has many uses, it is used by field medics to asess a trooper's medical condition, scan an area and point out hostile and friendly targets, assist with long range targeting and act as binoculars to view farther away areas.

"Come on, Bonnie" Ron tries to hurry her up

"You want me to rush or to actually hit them?" she says in an annoyed tone "I got them" she fires off four rounds, one after the other. Standing up, she smirks "Got them" and walks back down to where Kim and the rest of the squad are.

"Entrance looks clear, L.t." she reports

"Looks being the operative word" Kim says with a smirk, Bonnie nods

"Always is, L.t."

"Yep. Alright, Sergeant" Kim says, putting her hand on her helmets comm unit "Get back down here, we're moving out" she looks up and Ron nods, sliding down the bank.

As soon as he reaches the bottom, he expects to jump and land on his feet. He doesn't.

"I must admit, Sergeant. I don't think I've ever seen anyone run down a hill and jump face first into the ground" Kim tries not to laugh

"Your point, L.t.?" Kim just looks at him and turns away, walking toward the bug mound

"I have to admit, I may have been wrong about you in school" Bonnie says, walking beside Ron

"How so?"

"You are good for something" she smiles and says no more, leaving him to contemplate that by himself

"Like what?" he asks, but Bonnie doesn't have time to respond, before Kim whirls her head up and looks around, not that Bonnie really had an answer to give

"Okay, cut the chatter. Eyes peeled"

"For what, L.t.?" Pvt. Mallak asks, Pvt. Hellena answers his question

"KAMAKAZIES!" she points up at the sky behind them, Kim has to think quickly. With the path behind them being shadowed by Kamakazie (flying) bugs, only one way is left

"TO THE MOUND! MOVE IT!" she points at the bug structure, then starts firing her weapon at the swarm, the rest of the squad follows suit, dropping one bug after another.

Pvt. Volcors runs inside the bug mound, thinking that it'll be safer than outside, she couldn't be more wrong

"Uh, L.t."

"Kinda busy here, Private" Kim is still firing her weapon at the sky

"L.T.!"

"WHAT? I..." Kim trails off as she actually looks inside the mound.

The area is filled with bug eggs and nurser bugs taking care of them. On top of that, more arachnid warriors than can be counted by anyone, ever fill the giant cave. In Kim's mind, all she can think of it _Oh crap_, but luckily, more than that comes out her mouth

"ROCKWALLER, MALLAK, COVER THE ENTRACE! EVERYONE ELSE, OPEN FIRE!!" she brings her weapon to her shoulder and begins firing, to anyone else, it would have looked like just "close your eyes and pull the trigger" firing, but she was actually hitting targets.

It didn't take the bugs long to figure out that they weren't alone and they weren't gonna take kindly to anyone stepping in their home, especially SICON troopers.

"SIR, WE CAN'T KEEP THIS UP FOR LONG" Pvt. Timbers points out

"I AGREE!" Kim thinks for a minute "MOVE ALONG THE LEDGE!"

"SIR?"

"WE HAVE TO CALL FLEET TO DUST THIS PLACE, BUT WE CAN'T GO OUT THAT WAY! MOVE FARTHER IN!" the rest of the squad nods and begins to move, slowly at first.

After a few select steps, the squad was up high on a ledge, away from the main cavern and the bugs had seemed to lose interest, for the moment anyway. Kim took the time to lay back against the cliff wall and think. Then converse with the squad. She had found that, even though most of her squad were still junior rank, they had the potential to all become Generals one day.

"Alright, this obviously isn't any normal bug mound"

"L.t. could it be a staging ground for an attack on the base?" Kim thought for a moment

"That's probably it. Why bother moving troops when you can just grow them, hidden right under your enemies noses" she grumbled "We have to dust this place" Bonnie stands

"I agree, L.t. but we're starting to run low on ammo and I didn't think to pack any bombs. We need fleet"

"I have no objections to that assesment. Except for the fact that we are in the mound along with the bugs and I don't much feel like being blown up in a atomic blast. Do you?"

"No, I..."

"Good. Can we get an uplink to fleet from inside here?" Kim turns to Pvt. Mallak

"It would be a very weak signal. Probably wouldn't get through"

"We have to try. Set it up"

"Sir, yes sir" he says and goes to work

"Alright, how much explosives do we have?"

"About a dozen grenades, a couple blocks of C4. Not a hell of a lot" Kim shakes her head

"Not my best day ever"

"L.t. I got the link, but it's awful weak"

"It'll do" She goes to the small terminal and speaks "Onyx leader, this is Delta team, over"

"Delta, this is On...er. Your sig...ak, over"

"Onyx leader, this is Delta team. Are your recieving? Over" she turns to Mallak "Can you boost it?"

"Give me a second" he fiddles with the insides of the device and then closes it soon after

"Best I can do, L.t. I swear"

"Onyx leader. This is Delta team"

"I can read you now, Delta. Go ahead. over"

"We have entered a bug mound. Request air support followed by an extraction followed by a nuke strike, over"

"For a mound? I can't authorize that, Lieutenant"

"Sir, you don't understand. We are Five point Six clicks outside the base and we have discovered a hatching chamber. Over"

"A hatching chamber?"

"Yes, sir. A massive one too. From the size of it, the bugs would be able to easily take base by suprise and have reinforcments very quickly"

"Roger, Delta. Support en-route"

"Sir, airspace is very hot"

"Understood, over"

"We'll be on the roof. Delta team out" she signs off "Alright, now we have to get up and out of here. Ideas?"

"Jump jet up and then blow a hole in the roof and wait for the transport"

"Kamakazies will take action"

"Not if the hole is too small. We drill through and plant a tracker on the outside, the transport homes in on it and when it gets close, we blow a big hole and fly through" Pvt. Timbers smiles proudly.

It doesn't take long before the Protectors hear the familer sound of SICON fighter strafing flying bugs and then the welcomed noise of the chopper flying in. The squad is being held from the ciling by grappling lines, until Kim's order that is.

"Activate jets!" the squad follows orders and the small jets on their backpacks light up and they release themselves from the grapple lines.

Once a safe distance has been achieved, Kim pumps the grenade launcher on her rifle and shoots off a round into the ceiling, exposing a large hole with a waiting transport on the other side

"Move it, apes" she says in a calm, but commanding voice.

"Well, Lieutenant, good work today"

"Thank you, General" Kim is chatting with none other than her General mother of the deep space comm

"That bug mound won't cause us any trouble"

"You made sure it was clean?"

"Sent in a team to make sure. The area was cleaned out by the nuke"

"I guess we got lucky" Kim sits in her chair

"Maybe. Or maybe you're better than you thought your were at this"

"Maybe" Kim smiles "But you didn't call me just to say good job"

"No, I didn't. Go to the strategy room"

"On my way" Kim gets up as her mother signs off

"Ok, I'm here. What now?"

"We figured that for the bugs to do something like this, a brain must be close by"

"Ugh, I do not want to have to deal with one of those"

"Too bad Lieutenant. We are however, going to assign another team to this mission, one more experienced with Brain bugs" General Possible smiles

"Please not Beta, please not Beta, please not Beta" Kim mutters to herself. She and the Beta squad leader don't get along at all. As became apparent the time the two teams had to join up

"Don't worry, it's not Beta"

"Then who...?" another General appears on the screen

"We decided to send the best, the team with the most experience with brains" Kim salutes

"General Redwing, sir"

"At ease, Lietenant" Kim drops the salute as the doors to the strategy room open and in walks the Alpha himself

"Lieutenant Possible"

"Lieutenant Razak" they both salute

"Ahem. Lieutenant Razak, having more experience in the field and with brains, will be in command of this op, understood?" Anne asks her daughter

"Yes, sir"

"Good. Find us that brain, Lieutenants" The briefing goes on for another while, but needless to say, Kim is feeling like this might be fun.


	5. Chapter 5 Brains, Brains, Brains

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

"On your feet, apes" Kim orders as she enters the Protectors bunk "Get your gear, we deploy in ten" she walks out.

"L.t. What's going on?" Ron asks

"We're going back to the mound from yesterday"

"Why?" Bonnie asks

"Command believes that an operation like the one the bugs were doing would require a brain and chances are it wasn't far off. So we're being paired up to go and get it"

"L.t. that mound was blown to bits, wasn't it?"

"Well, yes and no. Yes, we did blow it up. No, we didn't blow up all of it. Intel has confirmed that several more large chambers remain as well as a series of tunnels" the rest of the squad looks around, then Ron speaks

"Paired up, sir?"

"Alpha team is assembling their gear. We'd better hurry. Don't want to look bad for the best, do we?" Kim walks out of the room.

"Why are we in the main hanger? Shouldn't we be in the dropship bay?" Mallak asks

"Not this time. We're not dropping in, we're being inserted by shuttle"

"Oh"

Alpha team is waiting near the shuttle

"Lieutenant"

"Lieutenant"

"You're late"

"Sorry, had to polish my suit" Kim smirks, looking around at the Roughnecks. Razak jestures for the Deltas to board the shuttle

"I see courtesy isn't dead" she says as she walks on board the craft.

"Listen up, apes" Razak began briefing the two squads "We are being inserted here" he pointed to a dot on the holomap "Our task is to locate the brain"

"If there is one" Sgt. Rico put in

"Exactly. If Intel is right, there will be a brain there"

"Intel? Right? I dunno L.t.sounds like a longshot" Cpl Gossard put in

"Higgins has a better chance of making General" Doc added, the rest of the Roughnecks chuckled

"Lieutenant Possible, you've been here before" Kim stands up

"Yes. The best way to enter the mound would be from here" Kim points to a small hole in the ground "Intel confirmed that this passage is still intact and I noticed it yesterday. It looked big enough to fit a couple of people at a time and looked quite stable. Now one person at a time might be able to fit through

"If not, I'm sure Goss could make it wider" Pvt. Flores grins.

"Lieutenant, there" Kim points to the hole as she, her squad and the Roughnecks make their way to the bug mound that is now a pile of rubble and bug carcasuses. So far the mission has been going as planned, no bugs have been sighted and the entrance they are planning to use is still in place

"So far, so good" Pvt. Hellena points out as the two squads enter the rubble that was, yesterday, a bug spawning mound as well as a staging area.

It takes a while of sifting through the rubble to find what they had hoped to find - a tunnel leading out of the main chamber that had contained the arachnid larve.

A few klicks of closed in tunnel later and they came upon another large chamber, this one still full of eggs. Both Lt.s Kim and Razak crawl up to the ledge and flip down their visors to get a better look at the area

"I see, several dozen arachnid warriors" Razak starts

"As well as a couple nurser bugs and a few Blisters" Kim adds

"L.t.s, look" Ron has also flipped down his visor and spotted something "Over to the far right of the cave" he points, both Kim and Razak look in "Track marks and a tunnel big enough for a brain" As Ron and the two Lt.s chat, Bonnie is eyeing Cpl. Gossard, who is acting all tough and "big man" -ish, keeping the Cpl. amused. Flores notices this and makes a point to walk by Bonnie, speaking to her at the same time

"I wouldn't" she mutters with a grin, smiling at Gossard, who frowns

"Why ya gotta ruin it for me, Diz?"

"My job, Goss" Flores smiles

"Listen up, apes" Razak walks up to the two squads a minute later, Kim just behind him "We're gonna go after the brain and we're gonna try and do it quietly. That means no weapons fire unless absolutly neccessary" he holsters his rifle to his backpack to make a point, the rest of his squad follows suit and the Protectors to, after getting an agreement nod from their C.O. "And keep the chatter to a minimum. Use hand signals were ever possible. Don't let the bugs know we're here" Once both Lieutenants have made sure that their respective squads are ready, they begin to start walking on the ledge, around the edge of the cavern towards the opening.

After a little while they come across what appears to be another large cavern, only this time the troopers don't manage to sneak in undetected. As they are quickly spotted by a small group of warriors, Razak, with all his combat experience and even still-somewhat-new to this, Kim, both realize that in no way will they be able to accomplish their objective with stealth anymore, which leaves only one other option...

"OPEN FIRE!!" Kim and Razak shout at the same time and un-holster their weapons. The rest of the two squads follow suit, grabbing their weapons and opening up on the bugs. The troopers hold their line for what seems like hours, when in reality, it's only been minutes. Cpl "Doc" LaCroix pulls out his flamethrower and begins to light up the nearest bug.

"At least we can see what we're shooting at, now" Gossard remarks

Kim has leaned down on one knee for better accuracy and it is paying off, she's dropped almost as many bugs as Razak

"LIEUTENANT! WE CAN'T HOLD THIS POSITION! Bonnie yells out at her C.O. Kim looks at Razak and he nods "FULL RETREAT! TWO AT A TIME! GO!" Kim orders in the best command voice she can muster at the moment

The Skinnie named T'phai and Pvt. Hellena go first, using grapple lines to climb the cliff.

Then Sgt. Brutto and Sgt. Stoppable, followed by Pvt. Flores and Pvt. Volcors. Cpl. Rico and Cpl. Gossard are next. Cpl. Rockwaller and Pvt. Mallak follow quickly behind and behind them is Pvt. Higgins and Cpl. LaCroix.

"TIMBERS, POSSIBLE, GO NOW!" Razak orders, Kim attaches her grapple line and throws a grenade into the flurry of bugs as Razak attaches his own grapple line and they begin the climb.

The trip up the wall isn't long, but long enough, considering that the bugs aren't limited by planetary gravity, meaning that climbing up the cliff wall isn't enough.

Throwing a couple grenades near the ledge as they retreat buys them the few seconds the troopers need to escape to higher ground and then jump jet across the cavern to another small tunnel that they had spotted

"BRUTTO, T'PHAI, SEAL THE TUNNEL BEHIND US!" Razak orders and the two troopers follow that order, launching grenades from the small mountings on their rifles. A ton of rock and debris come crashing down, sealing them off from the hord of bugs.

"Alright, that happened" Kim said with a hint of relief in her voice.

About a half hour and several bug carcasuses later, they come upon their objective - a large cavern with a Brain bug in the center and many warriors surrounding it. Kim can feel something stirring inside her and she knows exactly what it is. It has shown itself many times before, in similar situations

"Lieutenant" she calls Razak

"What is it?"

"Feel like playing a little game?" she smirks, he plays along

"And what game would that be, Lieutenant?"

"Whose the better bug killer" she amps up the smirk on her face and it's a smirk that nobody with an ego can refuse

"My favourite game" he replies

"You are so on. Loser buys the winner a drink back at base"

"Deal. Would you like the first shot? I'll make it easy for you" he smiles at her, Kim stands up and puts on her squad leader face

"Let's take them down" she points out over the sea of bugs.

Bonnie and Rico step up, both with Javalin launchers on their shoulders and their visors down.

1st shot away...

...Hit

2nd shot away...

...Hit

3rd shot away...

...Hit

4th shot away...

...Hit

final shot away...

...Hit. By this time, the rest of the two squads have repelled down and are engaging the enemy with pulse rifles and flamethrowers.

Ron finds himself on his own, or near enough. He fires several shots into a small group of warriors and the ones that survive move toward him. Then he makes the biggest mistake of his life - he runs to the side to dodge his attackers but winds up right under another warrior. But he isn't afraid and fires several shots up into the belly of the beast. It kills the creature, but he fails to move out from under in time...

Kim is trying to keep count of her kills as best as she can and she is doing very well. It seems she does best when her competitive nature rears it's head.

"10...11...12...13...14..." she is about to count her fifteenth kill when her attention is drawn elsewhere

"AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGHHH!!"

"RON!" she runs over to find him under a dead bug, but she isn't a medic and can't tell how serious his injuries are, but she can see one of the warriors leg's has implanted itself into his right shoulder and another into the left side of his waist.

"DOC! You busy?" she calls the Roughneck's medic

"Kinda, why?" he torches another couple bugs

"TROOPER DOWN!"

"Be there in a sec" he tries to focus on killing the bugs first.

Kim has kneeled down beside her fallen friend and is doing her best to defend him, seeing as he can't defend himself at the moment.

"Kim...I..."

"Ron, if there has ever been a time for you to really listen to me, it's now. Shut up" she holds back tears and keeps firing, her rage is fueling every shot she fires, every round that goes into every bug she hits is being fueled by her desire to save her friend and take revenge on the creatures that did this to him. Doc has managed to toss Gossard the flamethrower and move over to where Ron is, but at this point, the two squads have sealed all the exits and killed all the guardian bugs.

"Trank it heavy" Razak orders his squad, firing trank rounds into the brain.

"How is he?" Kim asks

"Bad, very bad" Doc looks up at her "The bones in his right arm have been shattered and he's bleeding internally. We have to get him to the base hosptial, now"

"How long?"

"Without major surgery, he won't make it through the night" he stands up and walks off to report to Razak

"Kim..." Ron starts, but Kim can't face him now. She stands up and walks off

"Do we have it?" Razak nods to Kim's question

"Captured and alive. I've called for evac transport" he replies

"Good. We need to Sgt. Stoppable out of here"

"Blue leader should be sending a medivac transport. When it gets here, they will take the Sergeant, my team can stay and secure the area for ground transports"

"One more thing, how are we gonna get out of here?" normally, she wouldn't need to ask this kind of question, but she is rather distraut and is having a hard time concentrating on what she is doing, or rather, should be doing.

"We're gonna blow a hole. You should go, you're in no condition for a battle now"

"No, Lieutenant. I will stay and do my duty" she stands up and tries to get her composure back

"It's your call" he says and walks over to Gossard

"How we doing on an exit?"

"Done, L.t. We can blow at anytime"

"Good, transport should be here in a minute, blow it"

"Yes, sir" Gossard grins, his two favourite things: blowing things up and putting them together, sometimes in that order.

When the dropship arrives, Sgt. Stoppable is hoisted up by medics and placed on a stretcher so he can be moved to the hospital, Kim agrees, against her better judgement, to Bonnie's request to go along even though she would prefer to go, but she has a duty to do and despite her best friend and squadmate being heavily injured, she decides to stay.

Night on Klendathu...

The transport carrying both Alpha and Delta squads touches down on the pad at the main SICON base on Klendathu, Kim rushes down the ramp, towards the hospital.

Once inside, she goes up the doctor and then Ron

"You can relax, Lieutenant. The surgery was successful"

"So Ron, er, the Sergeant will be okay?"

"I can't say for sure, but his major injuries have been taken care of. His body needs time to fully recover though" Ron is floating in the tank of fluid that assists with healing, he is currently unconcious.

"So..."

"He is alive, for now. But that could change with little or no warning" the doctor turns around and goes back to his instruments

"Little or no warning? Care to explain?"

"His body has just gone through major trauma" the doc looks at his computer screen "Two major organs punctured six bones broken, two in multiple places and minor trauma to the brain from the initial impact as well as massive internal bleeding" looks back up at Kim "He could go either way right now. I can't give a definate answer" Kim grabs the doctor by the collar and pushes the man up against the nearest wall

"You'd better give me one soon" she says through clentched teeth just as the rest of her squad enters the hospital

"LIEUTENANT!" Kim realizes that she is currently majorly out of line and lossens her grip, lowing the doctor back to the floor

"Lieutenant, I give you my word, as soon as anything happens, I will contact you immediatly"

"Thank you" she puts her hand behind her neck "And sorry about that"

"Understandable" he walks away, leaving Kim to her squad

"How's the sarge?" Pvt. Hellena asks

"Don't know. Surgery was successful, but the docs have no idea if he'll pull through" Kim leans against the wall and slids down till she is sitting on the floor.

"You all better get some rest" she stands up and walks out, heading for the comm building

"General, I can report mission success" Kim speaks to her mother over the comm

"Good. But I heard from General Redwing that there was an injury"

"Yes, sir. There was"

"What happened?"

"Ron, er, Sergeant Stoppable somehow wound up under a dead bug"

"How serious?" Anne Possible's face was one of concern

"Very. They rushed him off to surgery and it was, somewhat successful"

"Somewhat?"

"Yeah, somewhat. They patched him up, but they don't know if he will live. The doc said that he could go either way with little warning at this point"

"Lieutenant. I can see that this is important to you. If you wish to take time off, I'm sure I can arrange for..."

"No, mother" Kim said in a somber tone "I think it would be best for the squad if we stayed on active duty"

"You sure?"

"Yes, sir, I am"

"Very well, Lieutenant. But this is a one time offer. Once you end this comm, the deal is gone, understand?"

"Yes, sir. I understand. I still believe that it would be best to remain on active duty"

"Kim..." Anne changed her tone "Listen to me as your mother. At least tell me why"

"Because, mom" Kim is in tears "If I take R&R time, where will I be? I'll be at Ron's side all the time, feeling sorry for myself. If I stay on active duty it might be able to keep myself from feeling bad and not think about it all the time"

"Alright, Kim. It's your call"

"I should have been there for him. I was not five feet from where he was, I should have seen it coming" her head falls onto her arms

"Kim, you were there for him. You got him out, nothing more could have been done" In all her years as a General, she has never seen a squad leader react so emotionaly to the loss of a squad mate

"Alright, permission to remain on active duty granted. Don't hurt yourself out there"

"I won't. Thanks" Anne smiled, she assumed that Kim's reaction is because she and Ron have been friends for so long and that was partly the reason, partly...

"Keep moving, clear that pass" Kim ordered as she and her squad moved through Klendathu's bug infested mountain ranges. It was day 112 of the Klendathu campaign and Sgt. Ronald Stoppable was still in the healing tank after sustaining several major injuries on a mission with Alpha team. He had been in the tank for two weeks with little change in his condition and Kim was beginning to fear that he might not come out of it. She had already noticed that her squad was already preforming less effectivly than normal. If this kept up for much longer, she would have to recommend to her mother General that they be taken out of the game until his condition changed, either for better or worse.

"L.t. area secure" Bonnie reported

"Thank you Corporal" Kim said and started to walk on, leaving Bonnie standing aside "ALRIGHT, WE'RE HEADING BACK TO BASE" Kim ordered as the retrieval chopper touched down not far from them. At the recommendation of General Possible, Delta Squad had been put on patrol duty since the incident and good thing too, the other members of the squad could tell that Kim wasn't fully herself right now.


	6. Chapter 6 Lost and found again

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

Even though it was against her daughter's wishes, General Anne Possible managed to convince SICON command to give the Protectors some R&R time. SICON command agreed to give the Protectors 3 days of R&R and Kim's mother had made sure, for her daughters sake, that it was about the _Grand Canyon_, not on the surface of Klendathu.

"I can't believe she would do this to me. I can't believe it" Kim complained as their transport docked aboard the _Grand Canyon_

"Hey, Kim, maybe this isn't all about you" Bonnie interrupts Kim's little rant

"Huh?" Kim looks over at her squad, Bonnie is stretching her arms out, Pvt. Hellena looks like he's sleeping on the chair, though Kim doesn't know if that's possible, those chairs are not built for comfort.Pvt. Mallak has his helmet off and his head is leaning back against the bulkhead. Pvt. Timbers and Pvt. Volcors are in near the same situation, tired and not looking very alive at the moment. _Maybe I have been pushing them too hard_ Kim thinks as the final docking sequence finishes and the side door opens, letting the troopers out.

"Where's the L.t.?" Bonnie asked as she walked into the mess a few hours later as the rest of the squad is eating dinner

"Last I heard, she was in the simulator. Apparently hasn't left since we got back" Pvt. Timbers answers. Bonnie shakes her head and walks out.

"WHO WANTS SOME MORE?!" Kim yells out at the holo-bugs. She is going through a simulation of one of the deadliest ground battles of the war - one of the battles on Pluto. M.I. lost over 1000 troopers in the 33 hours and even though they inflicted three times as many casualities on the enemy, in the end, the battle was considered a major loss. Nothing was gained, no ground, no new info on the bugs that SICON didn't already know at the time. It was the first real proof that this war would be devestating. And because of all that, Kim decided that it might be a good way to help her relieve some stress - fighting a battle that was destined to lose.

The holograms shut down just as she was about to take a ridge

"What the..?" she looked around to see Bonnie at the holo-projection controls, her arms crossed. The computers voice came on

"Lieutenant Possible. 2.5 hours. 459 enemy kills"

"Well, I think you just set a new record there, L.t. Longest time in a simulator" Kim looks over at her friend

"What do you want, Corporal" she asks when she emerges from the holoprojection room

"You, to take a break and get some rest"

"No. I blame myself for what happened" Kim turns away

"It wasn't your fault"

"I know that, but something tells me otherwise and I can't shake it"

"Go get some rest. You've been awake for three days straight"

"I can't do this without Ron. We've been supporting each other for so long. I was always there for him and he was always there for me and now everything's changed"

"I know. This war has changed us all"

"Not what I meant"

"How about this, you go get some sleep and we'll chat in the morning?" Kim sighs "Either you go quietly or I call your mother" Bonnie grins

"Fine, you win. I go get some rest" Kim gets up "But blackmail me again, Corporal, and I'll have you discharged from service, clear?"

"Yes, sir" Bonnie grins again

Kim does sleep, she spends all of the next day catching up on some must needed rest.She spends the day after catching up on her paperwork and her final day of R&R she stays in her quarters, save for a briefing with General Possible. As she spends some time alone, she begins to realize how much she's missed being able to do nothing. This war has kept her busier than she has ever been before, she can't remember a time when she didn't sleep for 3 days in a row.

That evening, all of Delta Squad can clearly tell that the last few days of R&R have done wonders for Kim, it is clearly obvious that she feels better, but in truth, she doesn't. The last few days gave her a chance to reflect and to better hide her true emotions, at least for now.

"Listen up, apes. We're being transferred back to planetside basecamp"

"I thought we had one more night or R&R, L.t."

"No. We have an early morning ground mission. We'll be taking a truck so we need to be on the ground before sun-up. So grab your gear, we leave in ten!" the troopers all stand up and wander off, heading for the locker room.

Klendathu, morning of day 116. Bunk room of Delta Squad.

"RISE AND SHINE SOLIDERS! Strategy room in ten. MOVE IT!" Kim enters and exits quickly.

"Alright, here is our target. An outpost on the edge of SICON controlled territory has ceased all communications with command"

"Gee, I wonder why" Volocrs puts in

"Anyway. This outpost is vital. It's purpose is to warn base camp of an impending attack. Now that it's offline, base is vulnerable" Kim looks around at her squad "We move out in ten, grab your gear and head to the garage. MOVE IT!" the troopers stand up and walk out. All of them except for Bonnie

"Kim, did you check in on..."

"Please don't, Bonnie" Kim puts her hand up to stop Bonnie from speaking Ron's name

"Kim, what...?"

"I've nearly lost my best friend. If I start thinking about him now, it might jeporadize the mission by making my mind wander and I will not have that, clear?"

"Sir, yes sir" she says and wanders out, heading for the truck garage.

"Everyone set?" Kim asks as they are about to board the truck, they all nod "Good. Rockwaller, you're driving, Pvt. Hellena, you're on the turret" Bonnie and Max climb onboard the two person cab, Max takes the back seat and warms up the vehicle's defense turret.

Once inside, Kim contacts the base command station

"Basecamp command, this is Delta team leader. Requesting permission for mission start"

"Copy Delta leader. You are cleared for mission start"

"Thank you command. Delta leader out" she turns to the trucks internal comm "Bonnie, get us out of here"

"Right, L.t." inside, the squad can hear the trucks engine starting.

The trip to the outpost takes just under an hour and Kim tries to keep herself under control, but her mind keeps drifting back to Ron and she can't figure out why. She keeps imagining herself standing with him, holding his hand as he comes out of the healing tank, she looks into his eyes and they embra...

"Lieutenant!" Pvt. Timbers shakes Kim about, trying to bring her back

"Huh? What?"

"We're coming up on the outpost"

"Oh, good. Alright everyone, check your gear, I DO NOT want any screw ups. We get in, we check around and once I give the all clear, we radio fleet to send down the new detachment and personell, clear?" the troopers all nod that they understood. Bonnie pulls the truck up beside the entrance to the outpost.

Kim turns to her troopers before heading inside

"Alright, teams of two. I want this whole building secured. You find a hole in an exterior wall, seal it off" she looks at them, trying to decide who to assign with who "Mallak and Timbers, you two take the east loading door. Hellena and Volcors, climb down the cliff and enter through the guardpost. Rockwaller, you're with me, we will climb up to the landing pad and enter from there. I want this building cleaned from top to bottom. Check in every five minutes" they just stand there "Move it, apes. We got a job to do"

As Bonnie and Kim jump jet up the side of the building to the high up landing pad. Pvt.s Max Hellena and Adrianne Volcors are repelling down the cliff the outpost sits on to get to the small guard position on a ledge overlooking the pass that leads directly to the main basecamp. It doesn't take long, seeing as the ledge is only a couple hundred feet down.

"L.t., this is Private Volcors, we are in position, ready to breach"

"Same here at the loading door, L.t."

"Good. Bonnie and I are almost in position. Hold for my signal"

The seconds tick by...

"Okay, ready. All units, breach NOW!" three troopers open up three seperate doors and move into the structure.

"Team 2, clear!" Pvt. Volcors reports

"Team 3, clear!"

"Ok, Team 1, clear" Kim looks over at Bonnie "Well, I guess that happened. Alright, apes, move in and secure primary areas. Do not compromise suit intergrity until I give the order. If you locate a breach, seal off doors in the area. Move out"

"Team 2 moving"

"Team 3 moving"

Kim and Bonnie start wandering down the stair way that leads from the landing pad and after they reach the bottom they come across the main control room for the base.

Pvt.s Volcors and Hellena are going through the barracks for the soliders stationed here

"I got something!" Adrianne calls out to her partner, who rushes over

"What is...Ugh"

"Yeah. Dead bugs" The main locker room off to the side of the bunks is filled with bug carcasuses

"L.t., Volcors here"

"Go ahead" Kim answers

"We got bug bodies just off the main bunk"

"Copy. Any M.I. troopers?"

"That's a negative. Moving on"

Pvt.s Mallak and Timbers have moved in through the main supply door and into the complex from top of the cliff level. Timbers whirls around, hearing a sound. It's just a falling container

"Well, that was anti-climactic" She says

"You got that right" Mallak grins and looks through a side door. He quickly turns around and his his comm "L.t."

"Yeah?"

"I count three M.I. casualties here"

"Understood"

"I can't acess the computer" Kim groans "It's been encoded. Though why the troopers would encode their computers is beyond me" she looks at Bonnie, who is covering the entrance

"Well, we had one trooper turn. Maybe high command figured that it might happen again"

"Good point. Can you?" Kim points to the computer system

"Sure. But I thought you said you could do anything?" She shoots Kim a smirk as the two switch positions and Kim takes over guarding the door "This is gonna take a couple minutes"

"Lieutenant, this is Private Hellena. Can you come down to the bunker, level 4, please. We found something you might wanna see"

"I'm on it. Bonnie, you gonna be okay?"

"Yes, L.t."

"Just checking"

As Kim heads down to the underground section of the base, she passes team 3

"Find anything more?" she asks

"Negative, Lieutenant. Nothing aside from a few more bug caracsuses"

"Alright, head up to the control room and get Corporal Rockwaller to locate where the base has been breached. Then go start sealing it up"

"Copy that, L.t." they walk off, heading to Bonnie's location.

"Alright, what do you have?" Kim asks as she enters level four of the underground bunker, Pvt. Hellena speaks

"Bugs broke in though the med center. Five dead"

"What's so special about that?"

"We found a new bug, one we haven't seen before. I checked against the intel database and it wasn't recognized" he leads Kim over to where a bug is laying upside down, dead. Kim is amazed. The bug is a dark orange/light brown colour that looks like a cross between an arachnid warrior and a Kamakazie flyer.

"Wow. This is interesting" As Kim stands up, she walks over to the main hall "Bonnie, radio base. We need evac and a spec ops team in here.

Once the outpost is secured and sealed, base assigns the Protectors to watch the base until reinforcements arrive to take over, which is supposed to take all night.

"Alright, apes" Kim addresses her squad in the briefing room "Command is putting together an evac and operations team. They should be here every early next morning. Corporal Rockwaller and I will take first watch. The rest of you seal off every unneccesary room and then get some sack time" the troopers nod and walk off "Corporal, take the cliff ledge. Check in every ten minutes"

"You got it, L.t"

"And if you do see bugs, do not engage until you have..."

"Reported in. I know the drill, Kim"

"Good. Just checking"

The night is uneventful, all three watches come and go and soon Pvt. Hellena, who is on last watch with Pvt. Timbers, hears the familiar sound of a transport ship, inbound from either base camp or the _Grand Canyon_, not that it really matters which one.

"Lieutenant Possible?" a man in a similar powersuit walks up to her outside

"Yes. You are?"

"Lieutenant Growman. We'll be taking over from here. You're free to leave"

"Thank you, Lieuteant" Kim puts her hand on her helmets comm "Private Hellena, you can clear off the ledge" no response "Private, do you read? Over"

"Lieutenant, we got a big problem down here" he responds finally

"What?"

"We got bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. Over"

"Copy, Private" Kim has a look on her face of terror "This is Delta Leader to all Deltas, report to the cliff ledge watch position on the double" she runs off, Bonnie behind her "Private Hellena, what bugs can you see?"

"Uh, we got Warriors, Kamakazies, Blisters, looks like some of those new bugs and two Plasmas"

"Copy that. Lieutenant Growman, this is Delta lead"

"This is Growman. What do you need?"

"Get every combat ready trooper on the cliff, we got inbound bugs. Tell command that this is an R-Triple D situation. And tell fleet we might need an airstrike at a moments notice"

"Understood Lieutenant. Where are you?"

"Heading to the cliff watch position. Delta lead out"

Kim has only ever seen this many bugs in place once, when she was fighting the holo simulation of that battle on Pluto, and it is scaring her. Though she tries not to show it.

"Alright, we do this right. Private Hellena and Corporal Rockwaller, you are on sniping duty. Privates Timbers and Mallak, break out the javalins, you're on anti air guard. Private Volcors, you're with me on the rifles, take out anything that nears the bottom of the cliff. You read me apes?"

"SIR, YES SIR!"

"Move out" all six troopers move to their assigned positions, taking their assigned weapons "Nobody waits for my order, fire as soon as you have target lock. But make every shot count"

Bonnie and Max open up first, sniping as many targets as they can hit, which is a lot. Almost the whole front line of bugs are killed before they can get within 500 meters of the cliff. Lucas and Pauline are targeting the Kamakazies, making quite a few kills

"SNIPERS, if they pass within 100 meters of the cliff, let them go, we'll handle them"

"Yes, sir"

"Lieutenant Growman to Lieutenant Possible"

"This is Possible, go ahead Growman"

"Fleet transport has just arrived with reinforcements. No need to be heroes down there. We're taking up lines along the cliff" Kim looks up and sees streams of pulse fire and rockets flying out from over the top of the cliff

"Aww, but we like being heroes" Kim grins to herself

"Delta"

"Relax. I've set charges to the ledge. If we need to retreat, we can blow the door and block the bugs out"

"Good to know. Growman out"

The siege lasts for several hours more and M.I. sustains heavy injuries and only a few fatalities. Luckily a few medics have arrived and are in the base infirmary, treating the wounded.

"L.t. Why are you here?" Bonnie asks as she lays down on the med bed

"I was relieved for a few minutes. I figured I'd come down and see how you are doing" she looks at the trooper

"I'm fine, L.t."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. All it was, was a Kamakazie thorn got imbedded in my side. Doc says I'll be out of here in a couple hours"

"Good, we're gonna need you out there"

"I hoped so" Kim looks over into a dark corner of the infirmary and spots a healing tank

"Someone found it when they turned the lights on"

"So, not one of the new troopers?"

"No. Poor trooper was left here when the base was attacked. He died in that tank. Talk about irony, huh?" It takes Kim a minute to remember that Ron is in one of those tanks and when she does her eyes widen. "L.t.? You okay?" then it hits Bonnie like the Kamakazie thorn "I'm sure he's fine, Kim. Kim?" too late. Kim's mind has already wandered back to her fallen friend and all the mental realaxation that the last 24 hours had given her to stop thinking about him has vanished "Kim? Kim?"

"I'm okay" Kim sits up from the bed

"No, you aren't" Kim sits back down "You're right. Why can't I stop thinking about him?"

"You feel guilty for what happened to him. You feel like it's your fault"

"What are you, a psychic?"

"No, I got checked for psychic powers when I enlisted" Bonnie grins "It's just obivous" before Bonnie can explain why it is, Kim is called back to duty.

19 hours into the siege and Delta Squad's replacements finally arrive, allowing the team to go back to base.

"Lieutenant Possible"

"Lieutenant Haragah" Lieutenant Sarah Haragah, Beta Squad. The two Lieutenants had to pair up squads for a mission during the early days of the Klendathu campaign and the two discovered they had something in common - a mutual dislike of each other. They discovered that when one of Haragah's orders nearly got Bonnie and Max killed.

"Took you long enough to get here" Kim said

"I figured that you could handle it" Sarah smirks

"Well, on the bright side, we did take out most of the bugs. Don't think you'll get to be a hero today" Kim says with a slighty evil grin

"Good, means less work to do. More time to sit around"

"Doubt that" Kim hands the other Lieutenant a computer pad

"What's this?"

"Orders. came in an hour ago. You are to secure and then occupy this outpost until relieved. Have fun" Kim smiles and heads up the transport ramp, leaving Sarah Haragah with a frown on her face.

The transport touched down on the base pad in the very early hours of the morning of day 118 of the Klendathu campaign and Kim immedietly headed over to the hospital to check on Ron as the other members of the squad headed over to the barracks.

"Ah, Lieutenant Possible"

"Any change?"

"No, I'm afraid not. The medically induced coma we put him in, he refuses to come out of"

"That's Ron alright" Kim grinned

"Sir, I don't want to be a kill joy here, but you might want to fill out KIA papers" Kim looses all control she has at the mention of those words

"NO! AS LONG AS HE STILL HAS A HEARTBEAT, HE IS STILL ALIVE, GOT IT?"

"Of course, sir"

"Good" she walks out and runs into Bonnie on the way

"How is he?" she asks

"The same. Still in a coma"

"Kim, I didn't want to say this and believe me, I'd be the last to say this, but it's been two weeks with little change" Kim turns away and Bonnie puts her gloved hand on Kim's shoulder "It might soon be time to accept it" As Kim walks away, a tear rolls down her cheek.

After a meal and a long mother-to-daughter chat, Kim heads back to the hospital, she has been up for the last couple days and she can feel the effect it's having on her, what with her mind constantly drifting back to Ron. She can't get the image of the dead trooper in the tank back at the outpost out of her head.

Bonnie and the rest of the squad are in the simulators, playing some sports and finding that doing almost the same thing they've been doing for the last two days, but without all the killer bugs, is actually relaxing.

The next morning, when she walks in to check on Ron, Bonnie finds Kim asleep in the hospital, at the foot of his tank, obviously having collapsed from exhaustion at the foot of his tank. She spots a doctor and asks why they didn't move her

"Frankly, we tried. Everytime, she woke up and we nearly became patients" is his answer. Bonnie leans down infront of Kim, placing her arm around the Lieutenant and lifting her up

"Cmon, K. Time to get up" before moving her to the bench, she turns around and looks up at Ron, floating in the tank

"You are a loser, you know that. I guess I was right back in highschool after all. Look what you are doing to her. I just know that she's going to be recommend for psych eval, or worse. She could be Section 8'd! I can see it. If you really care for her, you'll at least give us a sign or something, anything at all" she looks around, nothing happens. "I thought as much" Shuffling Kim around to get a better hold on her, Bonnie works her way over to the bench and plops her squad leader down with an "OOMPH", stirring Kim a little.

"B...Bonnie?" came a voice from behind her

"No way. There is no freakin way that actually worked" she walked up to the tank "Ron?" she could tell that even though he was awake, he was weak

"Heh, that'd be Sergeant Stoppable to you" she grinned and sarcastically saluted

"How ya doing?"

"I've been better"

"I bet" Ron looks over at Kim

"How is she?"

"Not good"

"Really?"

"She hasn't been doing well since you got in there. She really does care for you"

"I know"

"I don't think you really do" Ron looks around, as if trying to get his thoughts together

"I heard what you said"

"When, just now?"

"Yes. I was dreaming. I was back at school and everything went dim, then I heard your voice, telling me off"

"Just like old times, huh?"

"Yeah"

"I didn't mean it, I was just..."

"Upset and needing someone to blame for what Kim has been going through?"

"Yeah"

"It's ok"

"Well this is, uh, I'm gonna go get the doc"

"Okay" As Bonnie runs off, Ron takes a good look at Kim, who is still sleeping, but sitting upright.

"RETAKE THE MOUND ENTRANCE!" Kim orders her squad as they pass through a ridge on their way to secure a stranded squad. It has been four days since Ron woke up and Kim was feeling almost like her old self again.

"L.t. Bugs on our six!!" Kamakazies and Warriors.

"I see them. We can't hold. Call for an air strike and evac. We've cleared this mound anyway"

"Hey, Ron" Kim smiles as she walks up to the tank after arriving back at base from their mission

"Kim"

"How you feeling?"

"Better. Doc says I'll be out in a couple days"

"Good to hear. Squad needs it's Sergeant"

"And what about you?"

"What does that mean?"

"Bonnie says that when I was in that coma, you weren't youself"

"Ron, you're my best friend. Isn't it natural when someone almost loses their best friend to go a little crazy"

"I guess. But from what Bonnie told me..."

"Can we not talk about it now, please?" her eyes gleam over and he agrees.

--

Note: Ok, so that is the end of the Klendathu campaign, but not this fic!

I promise more K/R romance to come as well as the possiblitiy of a couple more KP characters being added.

Next chapter: beginning of vacation time and then the Homefront Campaign later on.


	7. Chapter 7 Home SweetBattlefield?

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

The war was over. No truce. No peace accord. No surrender. When Alpha team blew up the transport bug that was carrying the queen, the bugs retreated, fell back from every planet they occupied. The ones that didn't were quickly taken care of by M.I. troopers. SICON left a fleet over Klendathu, mostly to give advanced warning if the bugs ever got any ideas. Delta Squad headed home for some much needed rest time on Earth.

Inside a transport, en route from the _Grand Canyon_ to Earth

"Listen up, apes. With the destruction of the queen bug, the war is effectivly over. Now SICON has divided up all the troopers into three piles, pile one: Those to be released from duty, pile two: those given a month vacation and then to report for reassignment and finally, pile three: those being immediatly reassigned. Anyone wanna take a guess at which pile we fit in?" Kim spoke to her squad

"Let me see, your mother is a high ranking General. I'd say pile two, L.t." Ron answered

"Ron..." Kim shoots him a look

"Oh, sorry, L.t."

"In anycase, Sergeant Stoppable is correct. For the next month, you're all released from service. When time is up, you will report back to SICON HQ for reassignment. But look on the bright side, no more bugs to fight. Well, not whole hordes anyway" she looks around at the perked up faces of her troopers "As of the second you step off this transport, you are on vacation. So enjoy it" she smiles"

"LZ spotted, coming in for landing. Touchdown in one minute" the pilot says over the comm

As the transport carrying Delta squad down from the _Grand Canyon_ touches down at the landing pad near SICON HQ on Honolulu, General Anne Possible steps out from under the cover to meet it.

"I tell ya, that last flight sim, I swear I must've crashed like a dozen times" Pvt. Mallak is going on

"Remind me not to let you drive anything" Pvt. Volcors puts in with a grin as the troopers walk down the ramp, not dressed in their powersuits or SICON issue black jumpsuit, but the light green dress uniforms.

"General" Kim salutes, her mother returns the salute

"At ease, Lieutenant" she smiles and looks down, Kim is standing on the blacktop, not the transport ramp

"Kimmie, I believe you are off duty"

"Oh, right. Hi mom"

"Better. So how did the trip go?"

"It, went" is all Kim can say, Anne laughs.

Kim decided to take the first few days of her vacation and spend them lying on a beach on the island of Honolulu

"Alright, so your hotel is booked and paid for" Anne says to her daughter "And the requested clothes and items are waiting in your room"

"Thanks mom. Hey maybe you can join me?" Anne thinks

"Sorry, Kimmie, not today. Way to much work to do, but maybe sometime in the next few days"

"Ok, see ya" she runs off.

Ron is at the airport, awaiting his transport back to Middleton when Kim grabs him

"L.t. I mean Kim. What's up"

"Not a lot, I got a hotel room here and I'm staying for a few days. I'm gonna lay on the beach and soak up some rays. Why don't you stay?"

"I dunno Kim. I promised my folks I'd come home as soon as I landed. But Bonnie's staying. Seeing as she and her parents aren't on speaking terms still"

"I'll chat with her. We can hang out when I get home, yes?"

"I don't see why not" he smiles

"Good. In the meantime..." This is when Kim does something that Ron never, ever, ever would have expected her to do - she kisses him. She presses her lips to his and closes her eyes, letting their bodies merge at the top.

It takes him a couple minutes to realize what she is doing and by then, she has broken the kiss

"Kim...what, what was that?"

"When I get home, we have to talk"

"Why did you do that? I mean isn't it inappropriate? You are my superior"

"Ron, you dolt, we're on vacation. SICON doesn't care what we do on our free time" she looks into his eyes and then over his shoulder "Your transport is boarding. Better get going. I'll see you when I get home" she runs off, blowing him a kiss as she runs. Ron feels like he'd going to faint, but he luckily manages to hold on to conciousness.

Kim smiles as she sees his transport take off and then jumps into her rental car and, after a call to her mother to find out where Bonnie is staying, heads to meet her.

"So, where's the rest of the squad?" Bonnie asks as she and Kim are walking towards the beach

"Ron, Max and Adrianne have gone home to where ever they live. Lucas is staying on the island to work..."

"Work? He's on vacation?"

"He asked me to call it a hobby"

"What?"

"Helping to tune up Skimmers and vehicles for command"

"Ah ok. What about Pauline?"

"She's gone on a hiking trip in the Himalayas"

"And you are staying here?"

"For a few days of sun, surf and sand"

"Then?"

"Home. You should come with, see the old crowd"

"I dunno Kim. I'm still not talking to the family"

"So? You can stay at my place. I'm sure my mom won't mind"

"I'll think about it"

"Do that"

"Is that an order?" Bonnie grins

"No"

Both girls spend the next two days laying on the beach and shopping for the most part and as Kim heads back to Middleton on the third, Bonnie agrees to come with, mostly because she actually is enjoying spending time with her former highschool rival.

"KIM!" Ron calls out as the transport touches down on the pad at Middleton airport

"Hey Ron" she embraces her best friend, he looks confused "We'll talk later" she says

"Hey, Bonnie"

"Ron"

Ron picks up both girls' bags and they walk off, heading for his car

"So how was the beach?" he asks after getting in and starting the engine

"So relaxing" Kim says "It really was a shame that you couldn't be there. We had a small party with some of the troopers that had gotten off duty, on the beach yesterday"

"It was really fun" Bonnie added

"How about you, what have you been up to?"

"Hanging with the family. They were really suprised to see me"

"Why is that?" Kim asks

"Must've forgotten to tell them I was coming home" he grins

"Sure" Bonnie says with a smile

"So you two are okay?" Ron asks after he drops the two girls off

"Yeah. Come over later okay? We can watch a movie or something. Bonnie's gonna go out with some old friends"

"Sounds good, Lieutenant" Ron smiles and drives off. During the whole drive home, Bonnie has been watching Kim, sensing that something is up

"You did it, didn't you?" she asks after dropping her stuff off in the guest room

"Did what?" Kim responds

"You kissed him, didn't you?"

"What?"

"I can tell. I'm not stupid, K" Kim blushes "Oh you did"

"In the airport back on Honolulu, just before he left"

"Ok, Kim. I'm gonna head off now. I'll be back later tonight"

"Alright Bonnie. If the house is dark..."

"I have the spare key you gave me"

"Good. Have fun"

"As long as I don't run into my parents or bugs, I don't see how I couldn't" Bonnie smiles and walks out, Kim leaves shortly after

"KIM!?"

"Hey Monique"

"Come in, come in" the African American girl moves to the side

"I didn't know you were back. I mean, I knew the war was over, but I never knew that you'd be off"

"I'm only on vacation"

"I could've sworn that your mother would keep you on active service, she being a general and all"

"No, she was kind enough make my squad one of the lucky ones that didn't get discharged or immediatly reassigned"

"So, how long?"

"A month. It's great to be home. you have no idea how uncomfortable those M.I. bunks and clothes get"

"I can imagine"

"Not really. But all this is what we were fighting for, fighting to save. And it's worth every sacrifice we had to make"

"Sure. Hey have a seat, TME"

"Actually, can we go out? I've been meaning to get some decent food since I got back"

"What, haven't eaten since landing?"

"Not here. But Bonnie and I decided to wait till we got home to actually get proper food. M.I. rations are so simple and really boring as well as repetitive" Monique laughed and grabbed her coat

"Sure. You and Bonnie?"

"Friends? You bet"

"So that's the story of the heroic Lieutenant Kim Possible" Kim said with a hint of saracasm in her voice. She and Monqiue had just finished eating dinner at a restuarant in town and Kim had retold the story of the war from her perspective. As Monique had expected, Kim gorged herself on the food

"Wow. Who would have imagined you and Bonnie becoming friends?"

"Yeah, but she needed a friend and I was happy to help" Kim looked up at the clock I'd better get home" she stood up

"Why?"

"Got an in home date with Ron"

"You and Ron, huh?"

"Not yet. But when he was in that tank, I felt so lost"

"And then you made out with him in the airport"

"Could have picked a worse place" Kim replied

"How?"

"Could have been while we were on the ship, still on duty"

"Ok, that's true"

"Hey, Ron" Kim smiled as she walked up to her house

"Hey, Kim. Where you been?"

"I had dinner with Monique. Told her my tale of the war. I haven't kept you waiting long, have I?"

"No, I've been here about ten minutes"

"Good" Kim said as she unlocked the front door

"No one else is home" she said as they walked in, she turned to him. Why don't you go and pick a movie while I get changed?" he nodded as she walked up the stairs, putting a little sway in her step that did not go unnoticed by Ron.

Kim comes down a few minutes later and Ron is already putting on the movie disc

"I tell ya, it is nice to be out of those jumpsuits. SICON command needs to learn to make better suits"

"Form or function, KP? Can't be both" Ron smiles as he catches a glimpse of her, she is wearing an outfit he hasn't seen since school - a baby blue crop top and jeans. Ron flinches as she jumps on the couch and nestles up to him

"So? Start the movie already"

"Oh, sorry Kim" he presses the play button

About halfway through the movie, Kim decides that she's waited long enough and looks over at him

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asks

"Remember when you were in the tank and I told you we would talk later?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"We can talk now"

"About what?"

"Ron, when you were in that tank, I feared the worst"

"Who wouldn't? We've been friends since forever, Kim"

"Not what I mean. When we had those three days aboard the _Grand Canyon_, I did some thinking"

"Uh oh" he grinned, Kim shot him a look "Sorry"

"About us, how we've been friends since forever and I came to a realization"

"What do you me...?" she leans in and plants a kiss on his lips. It shocks Ron at first and he tries to pull away, but Kim isn't about to give up and he quickly gives into her. He lets his hand fall to the side as he give in to her.

A couple moments later, she pulls back, but not far, and looks at him

"I..uh...I..." he stutters

"I said I came to a realization. Know what I mean?" Ron has aboslutly no idea, his brain still hasn't rebooted "I love you" she says with a gleam in her eyes and leans back on the couch.

"How long have you...?"

"I thought the reason for me not being myself when you were in the tank was because I blamed myself for what happened..."

"Kim, that wasn't your fault"

"I know. I realized the reason I was feeling so bad when you were in recovery was that I... I'm in love with you" she admits, Ron is taken aback "You've always been my friend and..." he puts his hand up to stop her

"Bonnie and I figured as much"

"What?"

"Face it Kim, you didn't hide it very well"

"I guess. So do you...?"

"Kim..." Ron thinks for a minute "I'd be crazy if I didn't want to be with you? Let me put it that way" Kim smiles and nestles up to him. She can't see his face from where she is, but she can tell that he has a huge grin on his face.

The rest of the evening is uneventful. Both troopers, tired from their long tour of duty are asleep on the couch when Bonnie walks in. She sees them and smiles, trying to be quiet.

Bonnie heads into the kitchen to get a late night snack and reaches up to get a glass out of the cupboard

"CRAP!" she's dropped a glass on the floor, it shatters and she can hear someone getting up so she peaks around the corner, it's Ron. "Hey" she says quietly

"Hi, Bonnie"

"How's our C.O.?"

"Tired"

"You don't looks so good yourself" she points out, hoping she didn't sound offensive

"I know"

"So did she...?"

"Admit that she's in love with me? Yeah, she did" he smiles

"I'll say this, you two make a cute couple"

"Even though it's totally against regs"

"Besides that. But I'm sure you two can keep a secret"

"Hope so" he looks around "I'm gonna take her upstairs. Good night"

"Okay, night"

Friday...

Kim wakes up the next morning in her own bed and some warm cloth against her skin. She moves and pulls back the covers. To her relief, she is still wearing the clothes she was last night, but there is a lump in the bed beside her and she can't remember how she got here. Kim looks up at her clock, 8:30AM. She moves her arm to get a better look and bumps into the lump beside her

"Mmmmm, another hour please" Ron groans beside her, Kim's eyes widen _Oh my god. Did we...?_

"Ron, Ron, RON!" she tries to get his attention, unsucessfully at first "RON!"

"Huh? What? I'm up, I'm up!" he bolts up, only to be met by Kim's soft hand

"It's okay, it's just me"

"Oh, hey Kim. I was dreaming I was fighting bug again" Kim smiles, then frowns

"Ron, did we... you know, last night?" it takes Ron a minute to realize what she means

"No, we didn't" he smiles

"Then why are you...in my bed? With me?"

"Well we fell asleep, then when I woke up later, I carried you up and was too tired and it was too late to go home. I figured you wouldn't mind"

"So we didn't...?"

"No, we didn't. I promise"

"Good"

"Yeah. So you gonna let me up so I can cook you breakfast?" Kim moves her body to the side, a smile on her face

"You go cook breakfast while I change"

"Sounds good to me" he smiles and walks out of the room.

"So, Ron" Kim starts as the two are eating breakfast "How do you feel about..."

"You being in love with me?" Kim nods, Ron lets out a sigh "Well, it's complicated, we're both troopers and you are my C.O. and us being together is totally against regulations and I don't wanna know what they'll do if we get caught..." Kim looks away, he just gave her the exact answer she feared, but he isn't finished "...That said, some rules were meant to be broken and some prizes..." he puts his hand under her chin and moves her head so she is looking at him when he smiles "...Are worth the risk of being caught" he leans in and plants a kiss on her lips. Kim is suprised by Ron's assertiveness, usually he's docile outside of combat, not like this at all, but she quickly gives in and opens up to him.

Ron breaks the embrace a moment later and looks deeply into Kim's emerald-coloured eyes.

"You're right" she says after a moment "...Somethings are worth the risk"

The rest of breakfast the two don't, or atleast try not to, break eye contact. Staring at each other as if they were psychics (Intel testing had said that they weren't when they had enlisted) as if trying to communcate with each other without speaking.

"So what shall we do today?" Ron asks finally.

The two hit the mall first. Kim extended her hold on Ron's arm to it's limit before she got his full attention

"I want to get some new clothes" she said, jesturing over at Club Bannana

"So go" he shruged

"Nuh uh. I want your advice on some..." Kim never finished before she heard her name being called. At first she thought it was Ron, but then realized that she was actually looking at him and someone else was calling her...

"KIM!" Kim turned around and found herself looking upon a familer set of blonde hair and blue eyes

"TARA?"

"Hi Kim, Ron"

"Hi Tara" Ron smiled

"What's up?" Kim asked, her grip on Ron's arm now gone

"Not a lot" Tara answered "I managed to swing a vacation from work"

"Where?"

"Intel" she answered

"Wait, you enlisted?" Kim was dumbfounded

"Yep. I was going for fleet..."

"So was I" Kim put in

"...But I got assigned to intel"

"I got Infantry" Kim sighs "Wait, why did you get assigned to Intel?" Kim was a little confused, then she heard a voice in her head _I got assigned to Intel because I can do this_. It was...Tara's voice in her head. Kim looked over at her friend "You're..."

"A psychic? Yeah. I had no idea. It's pretty cool"

"I guess so" Tara leaned over "So, tell me all about the war from the ground. I never really heard much at my desk"

"Can't you just read my mind?" Kim asked, Tara laughed

"I could. But it's not a much fun as hearing you say it"

"Why don't we go grab some lunch and chat?" Kim suggested

"Sounds good" Kim walked over to Ron

"Wanna come with?"

"Nah. I'm gonna go home and get some fresh clothes and frankly" he looked over at Tara "Psychics freak me out majorly. No offense" Tara just smiled

"None taken. I get that a lot. Even my parents are a little freaked out by what I can do and sometimes so am I"

"Okay. I'll call you when I get home" Kim smiled and kissed his cheek "And you can come over later"

"Sounds good" Ron walked off

"So, you enlisted and hoped to get fleet..." Tara made sure Kim's story started from the beginning

"I hoped to get fleet, but got assigned to M.I. instead. I almost died when I found out who our boot camp intsructer was"

"Who?"

"Barkin" Kim chuckled

"Ouch, you poor girl"

"Yeah. But I lived"

Later that evening Kim was sitting in her house, leaning up against Ron and watching a movie, hoping she could stay awake for the whole of it this time

"So how did it go with Tara?" Ron asked finally

"Good. I thought her being a psychic would creep me out, but it really didn't"

"Speak for yourself" Kim chuckled and yawned "You tired?"

"I guess so. I guess all those days without sleep during the war are finally catching up to me"

"Why don't I turn off the movie and you go to bed. I'll head home" Ron suggested

"I have a better idea. Why don't you turn off the movie and grab a blanket. I'm to tired to get up and frankly, I'm comfy right here" Kim smiled, Ron returned the smile and got up.

A couple hours later and Kim and Ron were snuggled up and sleeping on the couch, Bonnie was in the guest room still. She had spent, at Kim's suggestion, trying to get in touch with her parents to no end and was crying herself to sleep. Kim and Ron were sleeping soundly, both had a smile on their faces and if they could have seen it, they would have fallen over laughing.

At about 10:30, a car pulled into the driveway at the Possible residence. Out stepped General Anne Possible, coming home for the weekend. Anne had refused to move from Middleton when she became a General and had gone with a different approach. She had bought a small apartment on Honolulu and stayed there from Monday to Friday to work at SICON hq. On Friday evening, she came home and any work that needed to be done could be done from her home office. She took a flight back to Honolulu every Monday morning.

Yawning, she opened the door and walked inside her house. She didn't notice Kim and Ron on the couch as she walked inside, at first. As she walked back to the door a few minutes later to hang up her coat, she glanced inside and spotted the two sleeping, against each other on the couch. She, at first, smiled. As Kim's mother, she was happy to see her daughter smiling a goofy smile as she slept, she then figured that Kim and Ron had to be doing something. In a normal case, General Possible would have taken over, but she was too tired and decided to talk to Kim in the morning.

"Good morning Kim" Anne smiled, shaking her daughter

"M...mom?"

"Yes. Time to get up. We need to talk" Kim glanced over at the clock on the wall, just after 8AM. Kim moved the blanket off and got up, stretched and then placed the covers back over Ron and walked out.

Anne was sitting in the kitchen

"So, enjoying being home?" she asked as Kim wandered in

"Oh yeah. All the sacrifices we made as troopers, the bunks, the clothes, all worth it" she smiled and reached for the cereal

"So what is going on between you and Ron?" Anne asked, getting straight to the point

"Whose asking, my mother or my C.O.?"

"Both"

"Then nothing. We're friends"

"Kim, don't lie to me"

"I'm not, we're..." Kim could tell by the look on her mother's face that she wasn't buying it "Fine" Kim sat down, figuring that if any SICON officer was going to find out, best it be her mother "When Ron was in the tank on Klendathu, I wasn't myself and I came to realize why"

"You love him?" Anne asked

"Yes. We've been such good friends for so long, I don't know why I didn't realize it sooner"

"Do you know what you are doing?"

"What does that mean?"

"Dating one of you troopers, that can have serious ramifications at command. You could be discharged from service and more"

"More?"

"I think the penalty for associating this way with a superior officer is ten lashes in public square, for both of you and that's on top of a dishonorable discharge"

"We can keep it quiet" Kim protested "Besides, we made love the other night"

"YOU WHAT?"

"I'm kidding. I just wanted to see your face when I said that" Kim smirked

"Kim..."

"Mom, I was kidding. I had all my clothes on when I went to bed and they were on the same way when I woke up"

"I hope..."

"We can keep it quiet. As much as I love him and he loves me, we won't risk our careers over it"

"You already are"

"...More than we already are"

"I hope you can. If you get found out, I can't and won't protect you" _You say that now_ Kim thought

"I understand"

The next couple days went smoothly and by the time General Possible left for SICON Hq on Monday morning, it was official, as official as it could be without being on paper - Kim and Ron were an item.

A couple days later, Kim was inside, reading her book, one she had started before she had enlisted, but never got to finish, when she heard the doorbell ring

"Who could that be?" she asked herself as if her mind knew the answer

"Hi Princess" Kim heard as she opened the door, her jaw dropped

"SHEGO?"

"What no hello? No come on in?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I heard you were back in town and decided to drop by and say hello"

"But you're a criminal!" Kim protested

"Not anymore. If you invite me in, I can tell you more" Kim moved to the side and allowed the green woman passage

"So, why are you here?"

"What, I can't stop by to say hello?"

"Uh, I don't think criminals are welcome here" Kim sneered

"As I said, I'm not a criminal. Due to some really bad timing, I was busted stealing by some SICON troopers using tranks. Those things hurt"

"And what, they realeased you?"

"Not exaclty right away" Kim looked confused "I was sitting in my prison cell when I was visited by a General who said he wanted to give me a chance to redeem myself"

"And naturally you accepted?"

"Actually, at first I told her to go play with herself, though in a much more crude fashion"

"You? Crude? No, really?"

"But I listened to what she had to say and I just couldn't refuse"

"What? Refuse what?"

"I'm SICON now"

"You enlisted?"

"Somewhat"

"Somewhat?"

"I can't tell you everything because it is highly classified, but I can tell you now that I'm a trooper"

"As if you would take orders and be a foot solider"

"You're partly right"

"I am?"

"If she had offered to make me a plain and simple foot soilder, I would have passed it up"

"But you didn't"

"No. I was offered a spot in SpecOps"

"You are SpecOps? Only the best 2 of all troopers get offered a spot in SpecOps"

"Actually it's more like 1 of troopers. Yeah, I have a job where I have free roam to do whatever I feel needs to be done to complete a mission. I have my own squad now" Shego smiles

"I thought all this was classified?"

"It is, but what I just told you, is all the declassified stuff. If I were to tell you my rank, squad name, commander, etc that would be revealing classified information"

"So fine line, huh?"

"Very fine" Shego looks across the kitchen table the two women are sitting at "Enough about me, I've heard that you've gotten your own squad"

"Yep. Lead my team across Klendathu"

"I've also heard, but I don't believe it. You're dating your squad's Top-kick" Kim spewed her drink across the table "Oh my. Now whose the law breaker, Kimmie?"

"How did you...?"

"Your mother and I have become friends. We chat often and she just couldn't hold this back"

"I am gonna kill her" Kim muttered.

"That is it. I give up" Bonnie grumbles as she walks into the living room the next day where Kim is sitting, watching the latest FedNet news

"What?"

"My parents. They don't want anything to do with me" Bonnie slumps down on the couch

"You sure?"

''Positive. I've tried everything to talk to them. Phone calls, email, even going through my sisters. Nothing works, the moment they get a hint that it's me, they turn away"

"Why don't I try to talk to them?

"Huh, good luck. Mention my name and they will be gone"

"We shall see" Kim got up and walked over to the phone...

"Hello?"

"Hello. Is this the Rockwaller household?"

"Yes, it is. Who may I ask is calling?"

"Lieutenant Kimberly Possible"

"Okay"

"I wish to talk to you on a subject"

"It's Bonnie isn't it?"

"Well, yes. She has made many attempts to contact you, but..."

"She went against our wishes and joined the millitary. Our family has never had anyone in millitary service, ever. It's a family tradition and she broke it. As far as we are concerned, she isn't our daughter anymore. Good day, Lieutenant" she hangs up

"Wow"

"I told you"

"I'm so sorry, Bonnie"

"Me too" Kim is about to console her friend when the phone rings

"Hello?"

"Kim, it's your mother"

"Hi mom. What up?"

"This isn't a social call. Get Bonnie and Ron and get to Hq. NOW!"

"Why?"

"I'll tell you when you get here. The rest of your squad is on the way. This is an order, Lieutenant"

"Sir, yes sir" Kim hung up

"Pack up. We're heading to HQ"

"Why?" Bonnie asked

"No idea. But that was my mother, she wants us at SICON HQ asap"

"Alright" Bonnie ran off towards the guest room while Kim dials up the phone

"Hello?"

"Ron, it's Kim"

"Hey KP. What's up?"

"Not a social call. Pack up. We're heading to HQ"

"Why?"

"No idea. Just do it. Bonnie and I will be over in ten to pick you up"

"I'm on it" Kim hung up

The three arrived at the airport about twenty minutes later, in their dress uniforms.

"KIM!"

"Hey Tara. You know what's going on?" Kim really hoped that the psychic knew

"Sorry. My powers are range limited, so I have no idea"

"Oh. I assume you were called back to HQ?"

"Yeah. You?" Kim nodded

"My mother called, she sounded concerned"

The comm in the airport buzzed

"Transport 765 for Honolulu now boarding" Kim, Bonnie, Ron and Tara all moved and a few moments later, were sitting on the transport with a few other soliders. Some wearing fleet uniforms, some M.I. and some, like Tara, were wearing the black uniforms that signified Intel operatives, but no one was wearing civilian clothes.

The transport touched down at one of the pads near SICON command center. As they disembarked, Kim spotted several other transports touching down.

"Lieutenant" General Anne Possible greeted them, the four soldiers saluted, Anne turned to Tara

"They're waiting for you in the command center, Colonel" Tara nodded and ran off

"Mom what's this all about?" Kim asked

"The rest of your squad is inside the strategy room"

"MOM!" Anne stopped and looked at her daughter, Kim could clearly see the fear in her mother's eyes and it terrified her

"We have, a situation" is all she said and walked off. Kim, Ron and Bonnie all followed.


	8. Chapter 8 Not as over as we had thought

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

The Protectors were all gathered in one of the briefing rooms at SICON command

"Mom, what is this all about?" Kim was getting tired of waiting for an answer

"As I said, we have a situation"

"What is it?"

"We were wrong"

"Who?"

"The enemy was not defeated"

"What are you talking about?"

"A team of troopers discovered and stopped some attempted sabatoge at a cold fusion plant in North Dakota at around 14:00 hours today"

"And the significance of that is...?" Bonnie asked

"The sabatours looked to be human, but upon a closer examination. They turned out to be bugs masquerading as humans"

"Oh..."

"...My..."

"...God" the whole squad took a step back

"Are you sure?" Pvt. Timbers asked

"100 sure. Our scientists did an examination of one of the bugs. It's an arachnid warrior, but not fully a warrior. More like a hybrid with both human and bug DNA"

"So the bugs are on earth?" Pvt. Mallak asked

"Yes, they are. And they've successfully hit another 43 targets around the globe" Anne pressed a couple buttons on the holo-projection controller and various landmarks and locations flash by,

"The White House, the Effiel Tower, the Arc De Triumphe, the Panama Canal, the Statue of Liberty. The list goes on and on. Luckily 8 targets were saved" Anne presses another couple buttons and the projection of the globe appears "Satellite scans of the planet have revealed a massive force of bugs all over the globe" Kim doesn't turn around to face her squad, she doesn't need to, she can sense the fear, the terror on their faces "The good news is that it looks like we have bug free zones in Northern Canada, most of Japan, Hawaii, Southern Africa and Austrailia. Currently we are trying to move as many civilians as we can to these areas, but bug assaults are hampering our efforts"

"So what are we doing?" Bonnie asks, a second before Kim does, Anne presses a few more buttons on the control console and the projection of Earth zooms in on Nevada, to a small city

"This is Staeless, Nevada, one of the first cities to report an attack by warriors. Go in and hold the city till the civilian population can be evac'd" Anne looked around at the stunned troopers "GO NOW!" Kim shook her head out of the daze she was in and saluted, the rest of the troopers followed suit

"SIR, YES SIR!" and they ran out

"I thought Alpha killed the queen" Ron put in

"I guess they didn't" Pvt. Mallak said as the squad was getting suited up in their respective powersuits

"Not that it really matters, does it?" Bonnie asked, Ron shook his head and was about to respond when Kim barged in

"MOVE IT APES! Take off in five" she walks out.

"Come in Deltas" Anne Possible's voice comes over the comm as the Protectors are in a transport, heading for Staeless

"This is Delta leader. Go ahead, General"

"New info from teams already on the ground. Bug army is massive, larger than expected"

"Understood, General. Any new developments that might actually hamper the mission?" Kim asks with a grin on her face

"None. Lieutenant"

"Thank you General" Kim signs off "Listen up, apes. Intel has determined that if we can hold the center of town here" she points to a location on the screen "The bugs will try and take it before the rest of the city. So our mission is clear, we hold that square until relieved by command at which point we fall back to a heavily defended LZ and evac, clear?"

"Sir, yes sir" the troopers say in unison, looking at their C.O.

The battle for Staeless isn't going well by the time the Protectors arrive. The bugs are coming from the East and almost everything East of the square has been turned to rubble

"Wow, they've done everything short of nuking it" Pvt. Volcors says

"Yeah, lets hope they don't change their mind on that" Pvt. Hellena says with some worry in his voice. The transport has deployed Kim's squad on a rooftop just west of the square

"Cut the chatter. Deploy grapple lines and get to that square, double time. Sergeant" Kim looks Ron "Take point"

"On it, L.t." he runs and jumps off the ledge, quickly firing his powersuit's jump jets and landing safely on the ground below.

It takes the squad a couple minutes to get to the square and when they arrive, while the rest of the squad takes up positions and begins firing at the bugs, Kim walks over to the leader of the squad already there, she salutes

"Lieutenant Kim Possible, Delta Squad" the man salutes back

"Lieutenant George Dekirtson, Omega Squad. Good to see you, Lieutenant. I was beginning to fear that reinforcements weren't coming"

"We're here and we're packing heat" Kim smiles, moving her head around

"I have to say, Lieutenant, I love it when my reinforcements say that" the other L.t. grins

"I bet you do" Kim turns to her own squad "PASS OUT MAGS! MALLAK AND VOLCORS, GRAB JAVELINS! FIRE AT WILL!!" she yells and the troopers move around, handing mags to the other squad, who are running low on ammo.

The pile of dead warriors keeps growing and growing. Some of the cannon emplacments need to keep being moved back so they can continue to target the top of the piles. After a couple hours, it seems the stream of bugs is almost unending

"L.T.!!" Ron calls out as he moves position

"What?"

"New warriors coming from the North" Kim flips down her visor and looks due North. Ron is right, another column of warriors is heading their way, she patches her radio into the nearby arial

"Delta Squad to command. Delta Squad to command"

"Delta squad, this is field command"

"Field Command, we have new bugs spotted coming from the North. We will be unable to hold this position for long. Where is our ride?"

"Negative on that evac, Delta. Civilian population still not fully evacuated. Remain at your position"

"That ride better be here soon, command" Kim almost yells into her radio and goes back to shooting the approaching bugs.

Another twenty or so minutes later and Kim has had enough

"Delta Squad to command. Delta Squad to command"

"Delta, this is field command. I already told you to remain at your position"

"Command, these bugs want this position really, really, really badly. If we can't be evac'd, at least give us some more firepower or reinforcements. I..." Kim is knocked back by a bug that breached the perimiter, but Bonnie quickly takes care of it "Command?"

"Still here, Delta"

"Either send us an evac team or some reinforcements or we pull back" no response "Command? Command, do you copy? Argh" Kim looks around "PULL BACK!"

"Delta this is command. Green light on your request for more firepower, marauders inbound to assist"

"Thank you, command. ETA?"

"Five minutes Delta"

"Better hope for sooner. Delta Squad out" Kim spins to her side and concentrates her fire to the Northern wave of bugs

It takes the marauders almost ten minutes to reach Delta's position. The two Long-Range and two Cargo marauders take up positions on either side, targeting the hordes of bugs coming their way. Kim looks around and thinks for a moment, then turns to the marauders

"MARAUDERS! LAUNCH PLASMA WALL!"

"SIR, YES SIR" the pilots respond and small cannons on all of the marauders open up and a second later missiles come out. After they hit and create the plasma firewall, Kim lowers her weapon and falls to the ground, breathing heavily

"You okay, L.t.?" Bonnie asks

"Yeah. Just a little tired is all" Kim looks up at the sky overhead, night has broken. The sky has been filled by the eery glow of the plasma walls and remaining street lights, some broken in half and some still standing straight. "I have to admit" Kim says with a small chuckle "When I woke up this morning I was not expecting this to be happening" she says with a half-smile on her face

"I don't think anyone did" Bonnie looks at her C.O. with a slight grin.

"L.T.! Plasma wall's wearing down!" Pvt. Volcors points out after a few minutes

"ALLRIGHT, APES!" Kim orders "PRIVATES VOLCORS AND TIMBERS WITH CORPORAL ROCKWALLER ON THE NORTH LINE. PRIVATES MALLAK AND HELLENA WITH SERGEANT STOPPABLE ON THE EAST SIDE!" she looks around at the faces of her troopers and can clearly see the fear in their eyes. Even seasoned troopers like Sgt. Stoppable and Cpl. Rockwaller have a hard time hiding the fear in their eyes from their C.O. "WHAT'S THE MATTER, APES? WANNA LIVE FOREVER? MOVE IT!"

"SIR, YES SIR" the soliders move out and take formation at their assigned positions, Kim walks over to Lt. Dekirtson

"Set your troopers up in front of mine" he nods and walks away towards his troopers. Kim walks towards the marauders "Two per side. Pulse cannons only. Clear?" each trooper inside their vehicle nods and moves off.

"L.t. plasma is dying down" Ron points out "Bugs breaching through!"

"ALL TROOPERS HOLD FIRE UNTIL MY ORDER!" Kim yells, standing in between the two lines of troopers

"L.t?"

"Hold fire!"

"Kim?" Bonnie calls, her voice uneasy.

The bugs on the North side manage to get within 75 meters before Kim orders the troopers, led by Pvts. Volcors and Timbers along with Cpl. Rockwaller and 4 troopers from Omega Squad let lose a flurry of pulse rounds into the horde of approaching arachnid warriors, most of the first line fall over, covered in green bug blood. The horde apporaching from the East gets takes another few seconds to reach optimum firing range and when they do, the preformance is repeated. Each trooper unleashes hell upon the charging bugs.

The piles of dead arachnids are building up and both squads are running low on ammo

"You know, someone shoud tell command to equip troopers with more ammo" Ron suggests

"If they did that, then we'd be heavier and move slower" Bonnie points out

"True"

"Delta squad, this is field command, come in. Over"

"Field command, this is Delta leader. Please tell me our ride is on the way. We about to start throwing rocks here"

"Copy on that Delta, transport chopper is inbound. ETA 2 minutes"

"Thank you command" Kim turns to the troopers "WE'RE OUT OF HERE IN THREE MINUTES!" she hears "finally" being muttered several times, but ignores the comments

"Come in Delta Squad. This is transport _Luminus_. Over"

"_Luminus_, this is Delta Leader, over"

"Delta leader, area to hot, unable to land" Kim thinks for a minute

_"Luminus_, head for nearest rooftop. We'll meet you there"

"Copy Delta lead. _Luminus_ out"

"TROOPERS! FALL BACK" Kim orders as the troopers begin to stand "MARAUDERS! PLASMA!"

"Sorry, L.t. Not enough rockets left for a plasma wall"

"Damn it" Kim his her radio "Transport _Luminus_, do you have room for four marauders?"

"That's a neg, Delta"

"Copy" Kim turns to the marauders "SET MARAUDERS SELF DESTRUCT AND ABANDON!" she orders the pilots of the marauders. All of them follow orders and leave their marauders behind

"Delta lead, this is _Luminus_, we have touched down and are awaiting passengers"

"Copy, _Luminus_. ETA, one minute. TROOPERS! JUMPJETS!" Kim points to the top of the building that the transport is parked on, or rather, hoving near enough to that it can extend the boarding ramp to the building.

Kim is the first to board the transport, she is quickly followed by all of the wounded troopers and the rest of hers and Omega squads.

"Whew. That was close one, L.t." Pvt. Mallak points out as he removes his helmet. Kim walks by, heading for the comm console

"General"

"Lieutenant, good job. We were able to evac most of the civilians"

"So what now, General?"

"You're heading to your new base of operations for now. Our R&D facility at Groom Lake" Kim salutes and signs off.

When the transport lands, the squad heads for their barracks, while Kim heads for her office. About a half hour later, the comm buzzes in the bunkroom

"Sergeant Stoppable. My office, now" Kim sounds very demanding

"Oh ho ho, you're in for it now, Sarge" Pvt. Hellena says with a grin. Normally Bonnie would have made some sort of comment, but she figures she knows why Ron was called away...

"Lieutenant?" Ron salutes as he enters Kim's office. He doesn't have a chance to breathe before a pair of hands grab him, pull him inside and close the door behind him

"Sorry about that, had to make is sound and look good" she doesn't give him a chance to respond before she has planted her lips to his. Ron wraps his hands around the back of her SICON standard issue black jumpsuit and pulls her in closer.

"How was that?" she asks after breaking the passionate embrace

"You know what they say, forbidden fruit always tastes better" he smiles, Kim lets a small chuckle escape her lips.

"I was wondering how much longer I was going to have to wait for that" she kisses him again, but the comm buzzes

"Lieutenant Possible to the briefing room on level 2. Lieutenant Possible to the briefing room on level 2"

"That's me. I'll see you later" she walks out and blows him a kiss on her way, leaving Ron all alone in her office

"I must be absolutly nuts for her" he says to himself and walks out, heading for the messhall.

Kim enters the briefing room, no one else is inside, at first. A door on the side of the room opens up and in walks...

"DAD?"

"Hi, Kimmie-cub" Kim blushes "Dad, I'm on duty. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"This is where I work"

"What?"

"Oh that's right. The location of my research base was classified. I could never tell you"

"But mom knew?"

"Of course I did, Kimmie" Anne Possible walked into the room

"Alright, fine. What now?"

"We have a simple retrieval mission for you..."

Day 31 of the battle for Earth...

The bug army achived complete suprise when they invaded Earth. SICON officials had assumed that the bugs were no longer a threat and were not expecting an attack at all, so most of the planetary defenses were not at a state of full readyness. The bugs acheived overwhelming victory before SICON forces could respond, millions of civilians were slaughtered as the bugs overran countless cities all around the globe

Kim wanders into her office and looks over the latest Intel reports. One is quite disturbing, but she doesn't have time to read it fully before the comm buzzes and the face of her mother is on the screen

"General"

"Lieutenant"

"I doubt that this is a socal call"

"Then you guess right. Call it a briefing for a personal mission"

"Got a friend in need?" Anne can't answer before Kim hears a knock on her office door

"Hi, Ron"

"So, you gonna invite me in, or what?"

"Uh, Ron?"

"What?" Kim points to the face of her mother on the screen

"Crap" is all that comes out of Ron's mouth "General, I can explain"

"No need, Sergeant. I know all about your relationship with my daughter. Count yourself lucky that I haven't exposed you two to high command"

"Kim, that doesn't sound like your mother" Ron comments, Anne puts her hand on her forehead. Kim can sense the stress she is under

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Its just this mission"

"Mom, what is it?"

"The bugs are launching an attack on the American North East. Middleton is on the list of towns that are going to be hit" Kim and Ron both gasp

"Home?"

"Yes, home. Now officially, SICON command feels that the town is lost, troopers will be posted closer to the Eastern seaboard"

"Unoffically?"

"I'm going to allow your team to go in and extract civillians before the bugs hit"

"Will do Ma'am"

"One more thing. Even though it isn't yet, consider Middleton now behind enemy lines. The small supply base there has three trucks, confirmed working. You are to evac as many civillians and millitary personell as you can, as fast as you can, as well as friends and their families"

"I can do that"

"You will be inserted in and then have 24hours to evac as many as is possible. The six transports will leave either when the deadline has passed, the bugs hit, or they are full. After they leave, I won't risk sending anymore troopers in. So anyone left behind will have to make their way East on foot. Including you, if you get left behind"

"Understood"

"Kim, this isn't an order, know that. If you would rather not do this..."

"I know, I'm going in anyway. I have friends that've stuck by me. I'll be damned if I let them get taken by the bugs"

"Good" Anne signs off.

"...Now obviously, this is high danger mission. So, I'm making this an optional mission. Anyone who does not want to come can stay here, with no ramifacations whatsoever. But choose now. We leave in 1 hour" Kim walks out of the bunk.

Kim has to be honest with herself, she only really expects Ron and Bonnie to show up at the pad, the other troopers don't feel the same about the town as they do

"Kimmie!"

"Hey, dad"

"Can you do me a favour?"

"Sure what?

"At home, in the basement is my computer"

"Grab it?"

"Please. It has important information on it"

"I'll try"

"At least get the hard drives, if nothing else"

"That, I can do. I have to pick up a couple items at home anyway" Kim walks off, heading for the landing pad.

"Well, I have to admit it, I'm suprised" Kim smiles.

"We're all with you, L.t." Every member of her squad is on the pad, not just Ron and Bonnie

"We owe you big time. This is the least we can do"

"Alright then. What are you waiting for? Get aboard!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the troopers all run onboard the transport.

The trip to Middleton is quiet. Everyone knows what they are doing, no briefing, no new intel, no need to speak. Kim is quietly contemplating her mission. She can't help but feel conflicted. Does she save the people she knows first? Or last and save random civilians first? Can she afford to save the people she knows? The people her squad knows?

"Alright, Listen up" she says finally "We are going to deploy in teams of two. Sgt. Stoppable and Pvt. Mallak, Cpl. Rockwaller and Pvt. Timbers and finally, Pvt. Hellena and Pvt. Volcors"

"What about you, L.t.?" Ron asks

"I have a personal errand to run. Now Ron, Bonnie, I want you both to understand something" they listen quietly "We're here to save as many lives as possible, not just friends and family. Do not assign them priority, you read me?"

"Clear, L.t."

"Good. You will evac them when you get to them, not first. If they happen to be last, so be it"

"Understood"

"Good. Now, we will be taking whatever transport we can find. Go door to door and tell people to head to the base, bringing only their most important possessions and what they can carry, we won't have a lot of room for cargo. If you see bugs, report in first"

The transport touches down alonside five others on the pad inside the base and the Protectors quickly disembark and head for the vehicles. Team heads for a troop transport truck and Kim heads for a smaller vehicle, a motorbike near the entrance of the base. She guns it and heads off, heading for her house.

The first few hours of evacing the remaining civilians go smoothly, everyone understands the gravity of the situation and follow the directions of the troopers, loading onto the transport trucks until they are full to overloading. Once each truck is full, the team heads back to base to unload and then head back out again.

Kim has done as her father asked and retrieved the hard drives, while leaving the computer behind. She has also stuffed a duffel bag full of personal items, momentos and what that she figures can't afford to be lost to the bugs.

"Keep the line moving people" Ron says in a calm, but commanding voice as he herds civillians out of the trucks and towards the transport shuttles. At Kim's suggestion, the transport choppers headed back to base and the larger shuttles were called in to assist in the evacuation

"Shuttle _Terrace_ to Delta Squad"

"_Terrace_, this is Delta two, go ahead, over"

"Delta two, shuttle at capacity. We have to leave"

"Copy, _Terrace_. You are cleared. Thanks for your help"

"Shuttle _Terrace_ over and out" Ron looks up at the massive shuttle. The transport choppers are about the length of a school bus, not including the tail on either side that extend out from the back and the wingspan is about the same length as the main body when fully extended. When the wings are retracted, the wingspan is about that of a midsized car. The shuttles are easily four or five times as big and like a big lump. Ron has disobeyed Kim's orders, somewhat. While he haven't given his family and friends preferential treatment, he has sent them onboard the Protectors transport chopper, not onto the shuttles with the rest of the evacuees. Bonnie thanks her lucky stars that her family wasn't on her list, she might have skipped over them, purposly.

"How goes it?" Kim asks as she walks up to Ron in the base

"Good. Two shuttles have been loaded and have left. The last three are being loaded now"

"Good. I got what I came for" she jestures down at the duffel bag at her side

"What did you grab?"

"Hard drives from my dad's computer and some personal items" Ron is going to respond, but is interrupted by one of the sentries

"BUUUGGGSS!!" is called out from the sentry post on the wall

"And here I thought this mission would be boring" Kim says with a smirk, then looks at Ron "Get everyone inside the compound, NOW!"

"We don't..."

"Squeeze them in where ever possible, we have to close those doors!" she points at the large main doors at the compound entrance.

Luckily for everyone, enough people have been loaded on transports that allows the remainder of people to enter the compound and the main doors be closed behind them. The shuttle pilots take over guiding the civilians into the shuttles while the protectors head up to the wall to defend the base.

"Rockwaller, today's your lucky day" Kim says

"Huh?"

"Get up on that cannon" Kim points to one of the large cannons on the corner of the base. Bonnie follows orders and heads up to the turret.

The bugs are getting closer, closer, closer. Kim can almost smell them, almost reach out and touch them, not that she's want to

"OPEN FIRE!" she orders and they all follow orders, unleashing a wave of pule rifle rounds into the approaching swarms.

The onslaught continues for almost half an hour before two things happen. One, the last transport is fully loaded and ready for take off and the remaining civilians will be escorted East in the transport trucks by the remainder of the base millitary personnel. And two, Kim spots a couple plasma bugs setting up a distance away. She taps her comm

"Delta lead to all shuttles, power down your engines. Repeat, power down your engines"

"Delta lead, this is shuttle _Winnipeg_, this had better be good"

"We have spotted plasma bugs South-Southwest of the base. No ship will take off until I give the all clear. Understood?"

"Understood Lieutenant" Kim can hear the engines power down on the ships and a sense of relief washes over her

"Alright, now those shuttles can't lift off until those plasma bugs are taken care of. Suggestions?" Kim looks around at her squad

"Sideways assault" Bonnie suggests, Pvt. Volcors clues in quickly

"Right. We send a small team out the side of the base and they sneak around with Javalins and fire from the side. The shuttles leave and the chopper picks us up on the way out" Kim looks around at her troopers

"You volunteering?" she asks with a grin

"Do you even have to ask?" Bonnie replies

"Alright, Corporal take Privates Timbers and Hellena. Take out those damned plasmas"

"Copy, L.t." Bonnie gets up and motions for Max and Pauline to follow her while Kim orders heavy fire on the approaching bugs.

"Okay, listen up. I want no screw ups at all. I give an order, follow it. No response, no suggestions or disagreements. We move quick and quiet, clear?" they both nod in agreement "Good. Jumpjet over the wall and join up two blocks away" she nods and activates her jets, flying up and onto the wall and then over onto the ground below.

Bonnie and her team manage to navigate the streets on the edge of the city, until they've circled back around and can clearly see the plasmas ahead of them

"Delta leader, this is Delta three, over" Bonnie tapped her helmets comm

"Delta three, this is Delta Lead. I copy, over"

"We are in position to ambush the plasmas, over"

"Engage, Delta three. Then get to a rooftop to await extraction"

"Copy, lead. Delta three out" Bonnie signals for the two other troopers to move in position.

"Delta leader to all shuttles and transport _Gateway_, plasmas expected to be down soon. Power up your engines. Shuttles head away from the bugs, towards the trooper line before heading up. Trucks, you are clear to head out now. Transport chopper, after you pick us up, head for Corporal Rockwaller's beacon. Everyone clear?" Kim looks towards the pads and hears an almost unanimous

"Clear" over the radio at the same time

"Good. Corporal, take them out" Kim orders

"Alright, aim..." Bonnie grabs her launcher and looks over at both troopers on either side of her, then gives the order when she feels they are ready "FIRE!!"

The missiles leave the tubes and fly towards the plasma bugs, leaving a trail of smoke behind them that quickly disapates. Impact. The missiles hit their assigned targets right on the mark and all the energy stored inside the Plasma bug's rear is released when the missiles detonate on the shell. It explodes in a massive bright blue burst and claims not only both Plasma bugs, but many of the arachnid warriors in the area too, including some of the flying Hoppers and Kamakazies.

"L.t. targets emliminated. Ready for pickup" No response. Bonnie flips down her visor and looks over at the compound, the area is being overrun by the bugs and no transports are in sight "Delta lead, do you copy? Delta leader are you there?" Bonnie makes a futile effort to contact her squad leader.

After about five minutes, Kim's voice comes over the radio

"Bonnie, find cover, NOW!" Bonnie doesn't know whats going on, but obeys and motions for Max and Pauline to follow her inside a nearby house.

Two minutes later, the three troopers find out why Kim ordered them to find cover as a large shockwave smashes through the building. They emerge from the wreckage to find two things. One, the transport chopper is coming in to land. Two, most of area around where the compound was, including the edge of the city has been leveled.

"Bugs were swarming, had no choice but to nuke it" Kim says as the transport takes off.

Day 79 of the battle for Earth...

"Is he gonna be okay?" Kim asked as Pvt. Hellena was escorted off on a stretcher

"He'll be fine. Simple broken leg. He'll be back on duty in a few days" the doctor answered

"Good" Kim replied and headed towards the command building.

The Protectors had just come back from escorting a convoy of SICON officals to a hidden base. They had, of course, come under attack from bugs and Pvt. Hellena had broken his leg when a Kamakazie thorn had hit his leg and caused him to fall from the truck to the ground below.

"We have a mission for you" Anne briefed Kim in the strategy room at the SICON Groom Lake R&D base

"We just got back"

"Your point?"

"Fine. What is it?" Anne pressed a few keys

"This is research base" James Possible walked into the room "It is a base filled with top level scientists who are critical to R&D"

"And let me guess, they are at a remote base that is under siege from the bugs and you need my squad to go in and extract them" Kim asked with a large smug grin on her face

"Sort of"

"Sort of?"

"Yes, the base is in the Amazon Rainforest. Yes, it is in a remote location. Yes, it is under seige from the bugs. Yes, we do need you to go in and extract them"

"So what did I get wrong then? It sounds like I was right on the mark"

"The mission is high profile and we don't know how many bugs you will encounter. As for the terrain, deadly and hostile, like nothing you've seen before"

"Right, okay"

"So we're going to assign your squad to another for this mission"

"WHAT? When do I get operational command of a joint mission?" Anne grins

"When we pair your team to one with less experience"

"That makes sense. So who we teaming up with? Alpha?" Kim asks, her voice is hopeful

"We have a team that actually that used that region as one of their training grounds"

"Really?"

"Yep"

"Who?"

"Oh, right. Like you aren't guessing who" come a voice from behind her

"Lieutenant, you're being paired with SpecOps team Bravo. Under the command of Lieutenant Sheridan Go"

"Sherida...SHEGO?"

"Hi Princess"

"Wait, wait, wait. I have to take orders from her?" Kim shoots her mother a "YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME! PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS A REALLY BIG JOKE! PLEASE!" look. Anne understands the look fully

"Lieutenant Possible. This is an order, clear?"

"Yeah, I was just a little suprised is all" Kim gulps "...Sir"

"So, how did your commander sign you up to work with us plain troopers?"

"My commander knows how well you work. It was decided that, given our history..."

"...You two would work together" Anne finishes

"Mom? Are you..."

"The general that recruited and commands her? Yes, I am" she looks at Kim "You move out in five hours. I suggest you get some rest" and walks out

"See ya in five hours, Kimmie" Shego smiles and wanders off...


	9. Chapter 9 Orders from an old Enemy

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

"Our LZ is here. About 6 klicks West is the outpost. We're going to have to reach the outpost on foot" Shego is briefing both squads while on the transport. Unlike SICON trooper powersuits, which are either green, blue or yellow, SICON SpecOps powersuits are a dark red, easily pointing out which troopers are M.I. and which ones are SpecOps "Once we reach the outpost, we will storm in here" she points to a door in building "Once inside, we will locate the scientists and move to the other end of the base for exfil"

"Why the other side?" Ron asks "Why not go out the same way we came in?"

"Because, Sergeant, that entrance will likely be swarming with warriors. Also, the vehicle garage is on the other side. Last inventory check of the base listed a transport truck under repair at that location"

"Oh"

"We will take the truck and proceed here, to an old recon post and fly out over the water on Skimmers" Skimmers are small hovercrafts, they have to large fans on either side of a small cabin that can either be fully sealed, party sealed or fully open. They are very fast and one Skimmer can hold a couple M.I. squads at a time

"No air support?" Bonnie asked, looking up at the pale green woman

"Too many plasmas in the area for arial evac" Shego once again points to the screen "The Skimmers will transport us to the extraction point, here" she looks around at all the troopers. Her SpecOps squad is, as usual and as per their training, not moving a muscle, just looking and listening intently to their C.O. Kim's squad, on the other hand, is looking about at each other and up at both their own C.O. and Shego.

"Coming up on insertion point, Lieutenants" the pilot says over the comm

"Alright troopers, MOVE IT!" Shego orders. Her squad steps up, without using any unnecessary muscles. All the troopers stand up, ready at the main exit hatch, weapons gripped firmly, but pointing down at the floor.

"We are over deployment coordinates" the pilot says over the comm and the main hatch on the side opens up. Normally, the hatch opens and the main boarding ramp extends from it, down to the ground or platform or whatever. This time the hatch just pops open and falls to the side.

Shego goes first, she jumps out and activates her jumps jets, gliding safely down the jungle floor. Kim is the last one out of the hovering transport, as she lands on the jungle floor, the chance in temperature is almost unbearably obvious.

"Possible, take point" Shego orders, pointing in the direction they are going. Kim grumbles, she clearly isn't happy to have to take orders from Shego, but she moves into her assigned position nonetheless. If anyone had been looking at Shego's face, they would have seen a slight grin that came from her giving Kim an order and Kim actually obeying. "Anders, take the rear guard" Shego instructed one of her own squad.

The jungle was hot, Kim swore that it was hotter than the jungle that bordered Zegema Beach on Tesca Nemrosa. The humidity didn't help either, luckily the troopers were sheilded by the trees, so some shade was imparted, but not a enough for real cover.

Ron was lookind around, checking out all the scenery when his gaze happened upon Kim and Shego, it was obvious that both women were keeping one eye fixed upon the other. Kim, because she still didn't trust Shego and Shego, because she knew that Kim still didn't trust her and she figures that Kim might pull a fast one if she even thinks she senses that Shego might be going back to one or more of her "old habits". Shego has tried to explain to Kim that she has no intention of going back, her reason being that being a trooper, fighting the bugs "is more fun that law breaking". Unfortunatly, it's going to take more than that statement from the former villianness to convice Kim.

Bonnie has heard the stories told to her by Kim and Ron about Shego and she can't help but feel apprihensive about being this close to the green woman and trusting her with their lives. Ron, though he is doing his best to hide it, is freaking out about being this close to Shego, though only Kim can actually tell, or could, if she was paying attention to him instead of Shego.

After almost an hour, the silent tension between between Kim and Shego is finally broken when Ron speaks up

"So, Shego, what have you been up to?"

"M.I. bootcamp and then onto SpecOps training is all really"

"Okay..."

"Yeah, I haven't..." her voice trails off and she moves her weapon up, aimed right at Kim's head. Kim responds by taking the same action

"Kim, get down" Shego says in a strong and commanding, yet calm tone. Shego waits for another minute before making her move "I SAID GET DOWN!" she yells and moves to the side.

Shego's hands begin to glow the familer green glow and she fires her weapon. Kim and her squad look on in amazement as the pusle rounds that leave the barrel of Shego's rifle glow with the same green-ish colour mixed with the yellowish colour that they are normally. It takes Kim a minute to snap back to reality, but when she does, she looks over at where Shego is firing and sees what she is actually firing at and begins to fire as well. The rest of the two squads join in firing at the moving bushes, aiming for... nothing that they can see.

Then it pops out of the brush and into view, screeching. An arachnid warrior, covered in green blood. First one, then three more, all brought down quickly by the combined fire (but mostly Shego's fire) of Kim, Shego and Ron.

"You...saved my life" Kim has a look of shock on her face, as she lowers her weapon and looks over at the green woman. "How did you make your Morita do that?" Kim asks in amazement, referring to how the shots that came out of the rifle glowed the same as Shego's hands

"It's a trick I learned. My powers can transfer into my rifle, making the shots more powerful" she explains "Can we go? Bound to be more bugs around here" Kim goes back to walking in the direction the group was before.

"Something is wrong, here. Even I can tell that" Ron says with a hint of caution in his voice when they reach the clearing across from the outpost. The outpost is on an island in a small lake, near the bottom of a waterfall, surrounded by a shallow river on all sides. Only two access points allow entry - one small rope bridge on one side and a larger bridge for vehicles

"You're right. Something is up" Kim looks around the area with a suspicious eye. The team hasn't encountered a single bug since the small group earlier.

"Doesn't matter people. Move it. We need to get across" Shego orders and heads for the small bridge that crosses over the river to the outpost.

After crossing the bridge, Bonnie spots the first sign of trouble

"BUG! UP ON THE WATERFALL!" she points up to the spot, but holds her fire... for another few seconds anyway. Hordes of warrior bugs come up from under the water. In the bugs, the lack of a respritory system allows for greater adaptability. They can survive underwater, in space, almost anywhere. Hoppers and Kamakazies begin pouring out over the top of the waterfall. Troopers never need to guess if they are outnumbered when fighting the bugs - a well known fact is that they always are, usually by a ratio of 6:1.

"INSIDE THE OUTPOST! MOVE!" Shego orders and begins to open fire, though not using her plasma powers this time.

The team manages to reach the inside of the outpost just before the warriors manage to reach them.

"Guess we know why it was so quiet out there" Pvt. Timbers says, leaning over to catch her breath

"Yeah, they wanted us to reach this outpost. Be easier to slaughter us that way, all cornered in"

"Doesn't matter" Shego says "What does matter is that we complete the mission. I want a top to bottom search of this facility for personel, breaches and weapons. Leave no room unchecked. GO!" the troopers begin to fan out in teams of two "Possible, you're with me" Shego says and begins to walk down a hall

"Great" Kim mutters, hoping Shego won't hear her.

It takes just over a half hour to search the entirety of the outpost, but soon all the troopers and about 10 scientists are standing in the central control room of the outpost

"...And communications were destroyed a while ago. We have limited means to defend ourseleves with" the lead scientist informs the two Lts.

"Alright. Last inventory listed a transport truck here. Is that correct?" Shego gets straight to the point

"It was"

"Was?"

"It is still here, but it is too badly damaged to be useful. Unless you brought a magic wand" at that point, Kim swores that she heard Shego swear under her breath

"How far away are those Skimmers?" Kim asks, hopeful

"Too far"

"Okay..."

"About 30 klicks "Shego sighs "We could make it, but we'd have to deal with hordes of bugs and even I don't feel confident about going up against an army that large with just the firepower we've got" Shego looks over at the redhead "Sounds like you're beginning to trust me"

"No, I'm not. But for the moment, betraying us wouldn't be in your best interest. Unless you've allied yourself with the bugs. But even I doubt that" Shego smirks as Kim walks away

"So, when we leaving?" Pvt. Volcors asks

"No time soon. The truck is finished, so says the scientists. Not that I don't believe him or anything, but I would like..."

"...Me to take a look at it, just to be sure?" Pvt. Volcors finishes with a smirk, Kim nods

"Take Private Timbers with you for back up. The rest of you, assume we can't fix the truck and we can't get out of here on foot, I need options. Consult with Shego's team if you need to" Kim wanders off

"We may need to get out of here" Shego thinks out loud "Kim, how would you feel about doing a recon of the area?" she asks

"Is that an order?"

"No"

"Then no thanks. That would be suicide"

"And uneccesary" the lead scientist walks up

"How so?" both Kim and Shego ask at the same time, the man chuckles

"We aren't just developing top-secret porjects for the millitary, we're also studying the local wildlife and ecosystems as well. We have camera's hidden through out the jungle for a 3km radius"

"Good. Can you turn them on?" Kim asks

"No. The main transmitter was damaged. We cannot uplink to the cameras until it is repaired"

"How badly damaged?" Kim asks the man just looks at her, she gets the idea and sighs "There goes that idea"

After about an hour, it becomes very clear - escaping the outpost alive is going to be very, very difficult.

"We need to find a way out of here" Kim is becoming impatient

"We could always dig our way out" Ron suggests, he is joking of course

"It is, a possibility" one of the scientists says

"I'm sorry?" Shego is a little confused "What are we gonna do, dig our way out?"

"We will have to dig a bit, but there are tunnels under here that go on for miles. We haven't been able to map them all, but a couple of them do lead in the direction that we have to go. Best case scenario, the tunnels take us directly to the spot we need to be. Worst case scenario, we have to dig out and go above ground eventually"

"Any access points?"

"No. Command never allowed to us do go down and explore. So we were never able to dig the passages that lead to the tunnels"

"Here's hoping the bugs haven't found them either" Bonnie says

"Doesn't matter. In that confined space we'll have the advantage" Shego says and looks over at one of the scientists "Where is the nearest tunnel? Any run under the outpost?"

"No. If we wanted to enter from inside the base, we'd have to dig down and then head on level ground under the water. The best way to get in is from outside. In the clearing the way we have to go, we dig down"

"And once we get inside the tunnels we collapse them behind us, seal the bugs out. It'll be a long walk, but we stand a better chance of surviving if we take it" Shego turns around "Possible, we need three diggers. You, Anders and Stoppable"

"Why me?"

"Because, princess. I know how strong you are. You'll be able to break through that dirt quickly" Shego grins and walks off

"Alright. We do this right" Shego briefs everyone "Corporal Rockwaller will remain here at the entrance to the outpost with Corporal Derrak and protect the scientists. The rest of us will go and cover Lieutenant Possible, Corporal Anders and Sergeant Stoppable while they dig the entrance to the tunnel. EVERYONE READ ME?"

"SIR, YES SIR!!" all the troopers respond in unison.

The plan goes smoothly, as far as a plan that involves 9 troopers holding off an army of bugs goes. Shego, her troopers and the remainder of Kim's troopers do their best to hold off the bugs while Kim, Ron and Cpl. Anders dig down in the dirt.

At about 20 feet down, Kim is started to get tired. What sleep sh's gotten over the past few days has been restless and she is beginning to feel the effects.

"How far down are the tunnels?" she asks one of the scientists over the radio

"About 70-90 feet" comes over the comm

"Oh to hell with this" Kim mutters "EVERYONE OUT OF THE HOLE!" she orders

"POSSIBLE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Shego demands to know while kneeling down and launching a grenade into a swarm of Kamakazies

"SAVING TIME! AND PROBABLY LIVES!!" Kim responds and jumps out of the pit. "CLEAR THE AREA!!" Kim yells and throws a small charge into the hole "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!"

The explosion is a minimal one, weak, but strong enough to puncture the ground and expose the tunnel below

"TUNNEL IS EXPOSED!! BONNIE, GET THEM OVER HERE!!" Kim orders, looking over at Bonnie, standing inside the outpost. Bonnie nods and opens the door, jesturing for the scientists to follow her.

Kim, Ron, Bonnie and Cpl. Anders are the first ones inside the tunnel and once they make sure the tunnels immediate area is clear from anything or anythings, they jesture for the scientists to join them. Kim keeps an eye out while Ron and Bonnie fire grapple lines up to the top of hole to allow the scientists to slide down the lines to the tunnel floor below

It doesn't take long to get all the troopers and scientists into the tunnel and with the help of a couple grenades, the tunnel is soon sealed off from the surface once again.

"This way" the lead scientist points along the tunnel.

After a couple hours and and about ten kilometers into the tunnels, luckily no bugs have been spotted, the scientist who is holding the tracking device runs to catch up with Kim and Shego, who are on point

"We will be coming up to the limit of our current known layout of the tunnels, beyond this passageway, we have no idea what they look like, or in what direction they head" one of the scientists informs Kim and Shego

"Then we'd better..." Shego's voice trails off as the troopers step into a large cavern.

"Oh my" Kim remarks as she waves her helmet around to get a better look at the area.

The cavern is easily a couple hundred feet high with a massive waterfall on one side and at the bottom is a small lake. The entire cavern is slightly luminesent, enough for the troopers to barely make out several bugs on a cliff ledge without helmet lamps. The troopers first reaction is to point their weapons, but something is odd. The warriors are standing upright, no signs of battle damage but they aren't moving. Even when Pvt. Timbers takes a bad step and sends some small rocks down the cliff they don't move.

A closer inspection of the warriors reveal that at one pincer is stuck in some sort of underground Flora

"This is incredible. They are still alive, but fully paralized" the lead scientist exclaims and starts to walk up to the arachnid but Shego grabs him

"Yeah, interesting that the bugs are paralyzed. But at the moment, I don't care how or why. My orders are to evacuate you people. Now I'm going to follow those orders if it means that you all have to be tranked. Do I make myself clear?" the man nods, clearly scared "Good. Move out"

"This is as far as we should go" the lead scientist informs Shego while the rest of both the scientists and troopers sit back and take a break. The trip from the outpost has taken over half a day and they still are about 10 Kilometers from where they should be. "My scans of the area tell me that this is closest the tunnel will take us to the base. We have to surface and proceed on foot"

"Alright" Shego agrees and turns to everyone else "Alright, we're getting out of these tunnels. Everyone check your gear. MOVE IN FIVE!"

"Everyone stand back!" Shego orders as she holsters her rifle to her powersuit backpack and looks up. Her hands begin to glow and she throws them up and fires a continuous stream of plasma energy straight up into the rock. They would have used explosives, but Kim was concerned that it would most likely collapse the tunnel in on them.

"Almost there..." Shego grunts as rocks and dirt come falling down on her. Luckily one hits her helmet visor and knocks it down, covering her eyes. "RrrrrrAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Shego uses up a bit more of her strength pushing through the last few feet of dirt and rock. The tunnel is filled with dust, but when it clears and Kim looks over, Shego is sitting down in a ray of sunshine

"Doesn't she looks so peaceful?" Kim asks Ron while wearing a snarky grin

"I heard that, Possible" Shego says

"So?" Kim shrugs and fires her grappling line up to the mouth of the hole. Kim does a quick scan of the area, which reveals no bugs in the immediate area.

A couple hours later...

"We're getting near to the outpost. Everybody down and quiet" Shego wispers over her comlink "Kim, with me. Everyone else, stay here and wait for our signal" Kim nodded and moved up beside Shego and the two headed off into the bush.

"I hate waiting" Ron said after a moment "I want to be with them. I should be there"

"Ron, it's ok. Kim and Shego can handle themselves. Besides, you're doing a more important job here" Bonnie tried to comfort him "I can guess why you want to be there with her"

"More than that. What if they run into bugs, they might need..." as if those words were a trigger, arachnid screeches broke the silence. Ron stood up, ready for action.

A few minutes later, Kim and Shego landed right beside the rest of the troopers. It was obivous they had used their jumpjets.

"Mind if we drop in?" Kim asked with a grin

"You bring snacks?" Ron replied, Kim managed to chuckle under the circumstances

"Nope"

"That's enough, you two" Shego said before Ron could add anything "Listen up. We have a big problem. The bad news is that the compound is swarming with bugs"

"What's the good news?" Bonnie asked, Shego turned to her

"I never said that there was any" Shego replies and looks over at all her troopers "Alright. We are gonna dig a foxhole for the scientists and Corporal Rockwaller and Sergeant Maras. Once they are secure, the rest of us will engage the bugs and grab the Skimmers. Any questions?"

"If the Skimmers isn't there?" Pvt. Volcors asks

"...Panic" Shego replies "Let's get to work"

Digging the foxholes is really easy. As a trooper, you have to be ready to dig one while under enemy fire, so the art of digging a good foxhole is covered in basic training.

"Foxholes are done, L.t.s" Bonnie informs Kim and Shego "We're ready to proceed"

"Good" Kim turns to Shego "So, you want a headstart?" she smirks

"It's not fun if your compitition lets you win" Shego replies with a smirk.

"Okay. Everyone ready?" Shego asks the crowd of troopers, everyone nods "Alright, we jumpjet in and take the base by storm. First priority is the command tower. We jet up and take the tower, clear?" the troopers all nod "Good. Move on my order. 3..." the jumpjets on Shego's powersuit backpack extend out "2..." she raises her weapon and puts her battle face on "1..." she stands up from her kneeling position "GO!" Shego activates her jets, flying up and over the trees. Kim follows suit and then the rest of the troopers a second later.

"FULL ASSAULT!! MOVE IT!!" Shego orders and fires some plasma-power enhanced rounds into a bug. Kim leans back and launches a grenade at a Hopper. It falls to the ground in several pieces. Ron is at Kim's side, covering her back. He fires a couple rounds into an approaching Warrior and it falls to the ground.

They advance several feet before stopping and kneeling down again to take on another group of bugs. It is obivous that Shego is a better shot when she is kneeling down on one knee, she can apparently direct her plasma powers more effectivly into the Morita rifle and her aim is better. The swarm of bugs are getting closer and a crater is beginning to form from all the dead bugs. Pvt. Timbers pulls out her grenage launcher and launches a couple rounds into a large group of Warriors

"NOW THIS IS FUN!!" She exclaims with a large smile and pulls out her rifle, firing several well placed shots into the nerve clusters of several bugs, killing them instantly.

"WE GOTTA GO, NOW!!" Kim shouts, Shego nods that Kim is right and stands up, not taking her finger off the trigger for a second.

Both teams move closer and closer to the base, more and more bugs keep coming at them. The troopers are beginning to run low on ammo.

"MOVE TO THE TOWER!!" Shego orders as they enter the base through a hole in the outer base wall. Luckily, the tower elevator still works and the troopers are soon on their way up to the command center.

"We can't hold out here forever. Ammo is getting low and it's only a matter of time before Bonnie and the others are discovered" Kim points out to Shego as they settle into the command center.

"I know. I've located the Skimmers. They're parked in the secure garage" Shego turns to the the rest of the troopers "Good news is that they're in the secure garages and they're still sealed, which means they should still be working"

"And the bad news?" asks Pvt. Volcors

"The secure garages are all the way on the other side of the compound. We'll have to fight our way through" Shego walks over to the window and looks out over the base and gets an idea "What we need is a distraction" she turns back to the troopers "Alright, Possible and I will pilot the Skimmers so Sergeant Stoppable, Private Timbers, Private Volcors and Corporal Anders will cover us as we make our way to the secure garages. The rest of you will head over to the gun platform on the South wall" Shego points to the gun "Even if it doesn't work, it should provide enough of a distraction for us to make our move and grab the Skimmers. We grab the Skimmers, pick up the gun team and them make our way to Corporal Rockwallers location. Everyone clear?" the troopers nod that they heard "Good. MOVE OUT!"

The first wave of troopers heads towards the gun and Pvt. Mallak is the lucky one who gets to find out whether or not it actually works. It does, luckily and soon waves upon waves of high yield pulse rounds are flying out at the many bugs in the base, clearing a path for Shego, Kim, Ron, Pvt. Timbers, Pvt. Volcors and Cpl. Anders to access the secure garage.

Waves upon waves of Hoppers, Kamakazies and Warriors are coming towards the compound and most are being blown to bits by Pvt. Mallak on the base cannon.

"Private Mallak" Shego speaks over the comm

"Here, Lieutenant"

"Let the ground bug enter the base and then drop the main tower on them"

"WHAT?"

"WHAT?" Kim and Pvt. Mallak say at the same time

"If we drop the tower we might be able to distract the bugs for a moment or two and take many of them out" Shego explains

"In case you haven't noticed, that would KILL US!" Kim protests "We are in the direct line of fire if it fell"

"Not if we move first. Look, the Skimmers are almost ready, once we head out, just before we grab the gun team, they drop the tower on those bugs that are following us on the ground" Shego sighs and continues the start up sequence "Trust me..." the way she says that forces Kim to re-evaluate the woman and look at all the past times they've fought and then today, Shego saved Kim's life several times. Kim is about to answer "I dunno" when Shego says the one thing that she can, in a way that makes Kim realize that she really has changed, she really isn't a criminal anymore

"I...uh" Kim starts, a little confused

"...Please" Shego says in a calm voice. She stops and looks over at Kim, who moves to dodge a dead Hopper crash landing near where she was standing. Kim looks over and nods "Good. Let's roll" Shego goes on the comm to explain what is going to go down, while Kim starts up her Skimmer and hopes she is making the right call by trusting Shego.

"Bonnie, come in. This is Kim"

"I read you, L.t"

"We've gained the Skimmers. Pickup in five. Do not leave your position until we arrive"

"But it'll go much faster if..."

"I said don't, Corporal, clear?"

"Sir, yes sir" Bonnie responds, though she clearly isn't happy.

"COME ON! MOVE IT!!" Shego yells as the Skimmers are being loaded with personell from the foxhole. The base is in ruins, the command tower was sacrificed when Pvt. Mallak took out the base of it to drop it on a large horde of bugs. Grenades have been used again larger groups and have torn holes in every structure. Holes from pulse rounds can been seen on all the buildings

"SHEGO, WE'RE ALL LOADED HERE!" Kim yells over the commlink

"GO! WE'LL CATCH UP!" Shego orders, Kim nods and hits the thrusters on the small craft.

The flight to the evac point is uneventful, to say the least. Shego dropped a nuke charge before leaving the base and all of the Hoppers and Kamakazies were caught in the blast, so no pursuit by the enemy. Even though the two squads are several hours late, the transport is still waiting for them at the designated coordinates when they arrive.

Later, back at the Groom Lake base...

"You did a good thing today, Lieutenant" Anne congradulates her daughter "Lieutenant Go mentioned a conflict between you two, but she said it was nothing important" Kim tried to hide a smile, but fails

"Yes. The scientists you recovered are vital to ongoing R&D projects" James adds

"I'm giving the Protectors 24 hours of R&R. Get some sleep" Anne says.

"One more thing, General"

"Oh? And what's that?"

"In the tunnels, we found some bugs, they were fully paralyzed, but alive. R&D might want to look into this"

"We'll do what we can, Lieutenant. But that area is fully under enemy control. Dismissed" Kim salutes and walks out.

"Listen up apes. Command is giving us 24 hours of R&R. I suggest you use it" Kim says and turns to her secret boyfriend "And I need to see you for a important debriefing in a half hour" Kim says and walks out, hoping none of her troopers caught on to her real point. Only Bonnie and Ron got it.

"I want to thank you" Shego says. She and Kim are chatting over the comm

"For what?"

"For trusting me" Kim smiles and waves her hand

"It was no big"

"It was. Considering what we've been through in the past. It was a huge leap of faith on your part"

"Well, it didn't seem like I had many options at the time. Either trust you or get courtmarshled for insubordination" Kim chuckles

"Yeah, still"

"I know"

"Well, I gotta go. Briefing in a half hour and I need some food"

"Keep in touch?" Kim asks

"Definetly"

"Good. Remember, you turn bad again and I will be there to take you down"

"Hmm, you make it sound like an invitation" Shego grins "Tell you what. Next time off I get, I'll come down to the base and we can spar, just like old times. Well almost"

"It's a date" Kim smiles

"Are you sure your boyfriend won't be jealous?" Shego smirks. Kim is about to answer when the comm goes off in the background, calling her to the command center "Oh, gotta go. Chat later Princess" Shego smiles and signs off. Just in time too, Kim hears a knock on her office door.

"Come in why don't you?" Kim suggests in a seductive voice while Ron stands in the door.

--

Author's note: next update won't be awhile as I will be away from writing for a couple days. hope you're enjoying the story so far!


	10. Chapter 10 Burden's of War

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

Day 153 of the battle for Earth...

To say that the war was going well wouldn't be a total lie, but neither would it be untrue. SICON forces had managed to hold on to the American Southwest, including Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and California. Most of the worldwild civilian population had been moved to Australia and as a result of this, most of the country that had once been barren and unihabited, now held tent cities and emergency shelters. SICON command had set up deep ground sonar sensors all around the continent as well as AA batteries all around the coast. So far it was working, the bugs hadn't made any attempts to attack the population. The bugs seemed to be more concerned with taking Northern Russia and Europe. SICON had hoped to set up a base in England, but the bugs moved too fast and they had to set up in Ireland. Since then, the bugs had made a few attempts to gain the island, but every attempt had been thwarted. When they landed, the bugs had quickly taken the Himalayas as well as South and SouthEast Asia Nepal, China, Japan and India as well as several other countries in the area. SICON has declared Asia a lost cause and pulled all its troopers out and back to Alaska, Hawaii, Australia and the Middle East. The bugs have overrun the Eastern Seaboard of North America. South America isn't doing much better, either. The majority has been overrun, but troopers are pushing farther in everyday.

Kim and her squad are just getting back from retriving a data module from an unmanned outpost just outside of what used to be Chicago. First thing, the squad heads for the locker room

"This sucks" Kim complains

"Come on, L.t. It wasn't that bad. You took out more bugs than anyone" Ron says with a smile

"I know. It's not that" unknown to Kim, Anne has walked in "It's just all we seem to be doing is defending a base for civilians to evac and then retreating. Or dropping in to retrieve some data-whatever-thingy. I am getting sick and tired of this"

"So what do you want?" Anne asks. Kim whirls around, suprised. She salutes. After the general returns the salute, Kim speaks

"General, I..."

"It's ok, Lieutenant. I agree with you. And so does high command"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning we have another mission for you. High Command has decided that we've been on the defensive long enough. Report to the stratagy room in ten" Anne walks out.

"This is your objective" Anne presses a few keys on the projection control panel and a map of a mountainous area with a small town appears

"This is, or was, Kaslo, British Columbia in the Canadian Rockies. SICON command has decided that it is a strategic location to launch an attack on the bug mounds in North of the town. Unfortunatly..."

"We have to take the town first?" Kim asks with her usual smirk

"Correct. The town is swarming with bugs, due to the high concentration of bug mounds in the area"

"This sounds like the textbook definition of a sucide mission!" Pvt. Volcors says with a hint of worry in her voice

"Yes, it does" Kim smiles

"I won't deny that is a risky mission. But if we can take and hold the town, we can launch a massive assault on the bug mounds in the area and cut the bug army headed for the coast off from reinforcements and save a lot of lives" Kim gives her mother a look

"What's the catch?"

"Beta will be joining you for this mission" Kim sighs

"Couldn't you get..."

"No, I couldn't. I know you don't like Lieutenant Haragah, but you will be working with her on this. Do you get me solider?"

"Sir, yes sir" Kim replies

"Good" Anne starts to walk away but turns back "Oh and one more thing, you have joint command of the mission" Kim grins as Anne walks out.

"Ok, here we go. This will be a high danger low level drop because of all the plasma bugs in the area" Kim briefs the squads. High danger low level drops (H.D.L.L.D.s) are very rare. Mainly because when a squad can't drop suit in, or be insterted by transport choppers or shuttles, Skimmers, or other ground transportation are available. That was not the case this time. The region they were being dropped into was bug infested unlike any area SICON command had seen before. So an HDLLD was unavoidable. It was either that, or the two squads would have to walk over the entirety of the rocky mountain range. That would have taken days and would be extremely risky for the troopers, so the HDLLD was approved. They would have used a regular transport chopper, but the amount of Hoppers and Kamakazies are preventing it.

In a normal drop, the drop ship releases the troopers from lower part of the Mesoshpere, the drop suits protect the troopers inside from the extreme heat of atmospheric entry. This time, the suits will be released from inside the lower Troposhpere directly into the lake that the town sits on the shore of. The plan is for the dropships to make a low fly and eject the troopers, who will fall into the lake, jettisoning the troopers before hitting the bottom and walking to the shore and clear out the buildings as they advance through the town. That is the plan.

"Delta Squad, this is Beta lead. We are three-zero seconds behind you"

"Copy Beta lead" Kim replies

"Delta squad, we are nearing drop coordinates" the pilot speaks over the comm

"TROOPERS, SUIT UP!" Kim barks, pointing towards the drop suits. She figures it habit that every drop, she points towards the suits, since they've been dropped seems like hundreds of times.

While both squads make ready to drop, underneath the water, a lone Plasma bug moves into position...

"Alright, we go in and secure the area. As much as I hate this, SICON command, in all it's wisdom has decided to place Lieutenant Possible in command of this mission..." Lt. Haragah briefs her squad "This mission will be extremely dangerous. Not only because of the HDLLD, but because of the sheer amount of bugs in the area. Once we're in, they'll be no getting out until we are done. Clear?"

"Yeah. With all due respect, how are we gonna finish this? Do we even have a goal?" one of her troopers asks

"Yes, we do" she presses a few buttons on the projection control panel "Lieutenant Possible's squad has already been briefed on this. After the drop, we will make our way to an edge of the town and plant plasma wall charges in a line"

"Like a fence?" her top-kick, Sgt. Powell asks

"Yes. Delta Squad will attempt to knock out Plasmas in the area as well as trying to distract the bugs from what we are doing. Once all the emitters are in place, we will fall back to the center of town where SICON command dropped a care package a couple days ago. We hook it up and bingo. One town secure. If Delta succeeds and manages to destroy all the Plasma bugs before we finish, SICON command will be able to start sending in more troopers and equipment"

"And if not?"

"Then we're gonna be pulling an extra shift tonight" she grins, several of her troopers chuckle.

"Beta squad, prepare to drop" the pilot says over the comm. Sarah looks around at her troopers

"Alright, prepare to..." She never finishes.

A plasma shot clips port engines one & two, sending the craft into a uncontrolled barrel roll. Lt. Haragah manages to hit her radio

"THIS IS BETA SQUAD. WE ARE GOING DOWN. REPEAT WE ARE..." she doesn't have time to finish.

The ship crashes into the lake, sending the troopers flying into the forward bulkhead, knocking several of them unconcious. Kim and Lt. Haragah have a, complicated relationship. They hate each other, but respect each other enough to be able to work together when necessary. Sarah hopes that Kim heard her call. She didn't.

Kim walks up onto the beach, her dark green powersuit dripping wet. She looks around, no sign of Beta Squad.

"They should have been here before us" Kim says as she looks around. No bugs have been sighted so far, but they've only just walked on the beach "Take up guard positions. Move out" Kim waves her hand out to disperse her troopers. "Where are you?" she mutters to herself. Because this was a water drop, they are wearing fully sealed powersuits, rather than the open ones that are normally used on a planet with a breatheable atmosphere.

Deep under the water, Lt. Sarah Haragah regains conciousness. She looks around but it is hard to see in the suprisingly murky lake. She hits the switch on her head lamp and it turns on, illuminating the immediate area. It isn't long before she spots a couple troopers floating in the water...

Delta squad, aka Possible's Protectors, have been holding the beachfront for about twenty minutes. Either the bugs don't know they are there or they do know and just aren't doing anything, though the latter is incredibly unlikely. Bonnie is kneeling down over against some rocks, she gets up and crouches down to walk over to behind some logs.

"We can't wait any longer" Kim says "Prepare to move out" she looks around at her squad. Ron walks up to her

"L.t..." he starts, Kim looks at him

"I know, I know. But we must try to complete the mission" she looks around at the faces of her troopers. She's about to order them to move out, when the water behind her starts to bubble

"LT!" Bonnie moves and aims her weapon at the spot, part of her is hoping it's a bug. Part of her.

"Don't shoot" Lt. Haragah says as she walks out of the water, dragging a couple troopers behind her. A couple more walk out behind her. In all, six troopers of Beta squad are taken out of the water, one way or another.

"Where's the rest of your squad?" Kim asks Lt. Haragah

"On the dropship, I'm gonna go back for them in a sec" she says as Pvt. Hellena, Delta squad's medic, checks over her

"How is she?" Kim asks

"Superficial mostly. A couple of deep cuts, but nothing serious"

"Good. I'm gonna head back and..."

BOOM!!

All the troopers whirled around and looked over the lake where a large column of water spurted up and out. The blast came from the general direction of where Lt. Haragah ahd come out and at about the same time, the two blips on her scanner went dark. Everyone knew what it was - the dropship had blown up, with the pilot and two troopers of Beta Squad still inside. Lt. Haragah felt bad, no, terrible. The pilot had died on impact, so that wasn't it. The two troopers inside were the latest addition to her squad, they were no less then two weeks out of basic. It took her a few moments of Kim telling her that they have to move for her to finally get her strength back and stand up.

"Let's move" she said, with a hint of rage in her voice. Kim nods

"LET'S MOVE OUT!" she orders.

The first task was to clear out all the buildings en route to their objectives. Delta squad would head directly East, towards the hill, drawing as many bugs as possible. Beta squad would head South to the river and begin planting the fence emitters along the bank and in a set pattern around the town. SICON command dropped in a care package the day before that contains all the emitters and the main generator for the energy wall. The emitters are about the size of a human hand, very small. The generator is a bit bigger, about the size of a window-mounted air conditioner. Beta squad first carries the generator to where they will be setting up the HQ in the town. A large brick building that was the goverment center before the town was abandonded.

The first half hour goes as planned. Both squads head towards their objectives, clearing houses as they go.

"CLEAR!"

"CLEAR!"

"All right, move on" Kim orders, pointing towards the next home. Most of the buildings in the town are in ruin and close to collapsing.

Delta squad quickly clears all of their assigned targets, but several times, just after a building had been declared clean, it was filled with bugs again.

Not too much later, Kim's squad have found themselves looking down into a valley where several plasma bugs are moving around.

"L.t. we've reached our target, we can start being the distraction" Bonnie informs Kim

"Uunderstood" Kim taps her radio "Delta squad to Beta Squad"

"This is Beta. Copy Delta"

"We are in position. We are ready to be the distraction"

"Copy. We're ready too. We're almost done planting the first sequence of emitters. No enemies spotted yet.

"Copy, Delta lead out" Kim turns back to her squad "Alright, let's make some noise" she grins . Bonnie nods and loads a charge into her rifle's grenade launcher. She fires the charge right at a plasma. It explodes in a ball of bright blue flame.

"INCOMING!" Ron yells and fires his weapon into a mass of approaching warriors

"FIRE AT WILL!" Kim yells and fires her own weapon. She fires a shot at a lone warrior that survived the explosion. The round hits the nerve cluster, it dies. Several more shots into a few others, they all die. What Kim doesn't see is the lone warrior coming up on her left side. It lunges and scraps along her left arm, tearing through the suit and shredding her arm

"AAAAHHH!" she screams and Ron quickly kills it and goes over to her

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine" she proves her point by killing a couple more bugs that are approaching her and Ron's position. He grins, but looks down at his work, trying to stop the bleeding from her upper left arm, which has been cut open down the side. "Does hurt though" she says.

Bonnie is over with the other troopers, she gets up and is heading over to where Kim and Ron are when she spots the largest army of warriors she has even seen.

"L.t. we need to retreat. Bug resistance is taking a toll"

"Alright. Moblize for retreat" Kim orders as Ron helps her up. Bonnie nods and runs to the other troopers of Delta Squad.

Pvt.s Hellena, Timbers, Mallak and Volcors with Cpl. Rockwaller cover the retreat of Kim and Ron, then fall back themselves.

"Lieutenant Haragah, STATUS!" Kim calls over the radio

"Second sequence in place. But we're running into light bug resistance"

"Fall back to the HQ point, we have a massive column of warriors headed our way" it takes a minute, but finally Kim hears a response

"Copy that. Falling back"

"So what do we do now?" Sarah asks. Her squad got to the point first. Kim's breathing has gotten heavy

"Board up the building...But leave firing holes for the troopers" she orders as Ron helps her inside. After the windows are boarded up and the front entrance sealed, all the troopers head up stairs to the upper floor, collapsing the stairs behind them.

When they reach the top floor, Ron lays Kim back against a desk. She's lost a lot of blood and is starting to lose conciousness. Luckily Ron sealed the wound before she lost too much.

"How is she?" Sarah asks Ron

"She's fine. I'm no medic, but Max checked her out and shs's just out cold"

"Alright. Under battlefield regulations, I being the second in command on this mission, assume command under the fact that the mission leader is incapacitated" Sarah says. Ron reluctantly nods in agreement. "Then take up defensive positions. All windows"

"I'm gonna go keep an eye on Kim" Ron says and walks off.

They are right, Kim is alive. She did lose a lot of blood (her left arm was really cut wide open) and she is just out cold. Ron walks in the small room where Kim is

"Well?"

"She's fine" Max answers. Parts of Kim's armor are on the floor, as if they were torn off

"What happened here?"

"You did an ok job sealing the wound, but I had to remove her arm armour so I could fully seal it until we get back to base and I can put a cast on it"

"But she'll live, right?"

"I give her a few hours, then she should be fine to walk around. So yeah, I'm pretty sure she'll live. Unless we all get eaten by bugs. Then I dunno" he grins at the small joke. Ron stifles a chuckle

"Good man" he pats Max on the shoulder pad and walks out into the main room

"Well, the good news is that Kim's gonna be okay. According to Max, she should be up in a few hours"

"Good" Ron nods and walks out while Sarah sets up the comm to HQ "Beta squad to HQ. Beta squad to HQ"

"This is general Possible. Read you Beta"

"Ma'am, I have to report three casualties and one injury. Bugs control the area. We managed to set up almost half of the fence" the sound of gunfire drifts in from another room "And they are right on top of us"

"Copy that. Who was killed?"

"Major Bennard and Privates Lakhole and Karcy are dead. They died when our dropship was shot down by plasma. Lieutenant Possible has been injured. A warrior cut her arm open"

"And?"

"She'll be fine"

"Good. How goes the mission?"

"Not so good. We've been cut off from the emitters. We haven't even gotten them all in place"

"Alright. Well R&D has just finished developing something that might help"

"What?"

"I can't say over the comm. But a care package is being put together with the weapon. As soon as it is ready, I'll have it dropped on your location"

"Be much appreciated. Any idea when It'll get here?"

"No idea. Sorry"

"Alright, I just hope it gets here soon"

"I will do what I can, but no promises"

"Understood, General"

"Good. Possible out"

"Alright people, listen up. Orders from command are as follow; we are to hold this poistion until the care package they are sending arrives. And I don't know when that will be, so don't ask. We hold here and then the weapon command is sending should help us complete the original mission. Clear?"

"SIR, YES SIR!"

"Good. I want every trooper at a window and every side covered by at least one trooper. GO!" she orders and the soliders disperse, each moving to a window.

"I got bugs over here" Bonnie says after a few minutes, the troopers rush over to her side, the Eastern side, the front of the building

"How many?" Sarah asks

"More than I can count" Bonnie replies


	11. Chapter 11 Conflict

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

"WEAPONS AT THE READY!" Lt. Haragah orders "HOLD FIRE TILL MY ORDER!" Sarah orders as the warrior bugs race toward them "STEADY..."

"Lieutenant..."

"AIM..." the bugs are nearing the intersection and closing in on the building. 50 meters. 40 meters. 30...

"FIRE!!" she orders and lets go a flurry of rounds from her rifle, killing several bugs quickly.

Even with the powersuit temperature control, Bonnie felt the beads of sweat roll down her forehead. It is mid summer and the heat of the sun can be felt by all the troopers, even though they are on the inside of a brick building. She unloads several rounds into a group of warriors, though can't tell if she actually killed any of them.

Suddenly, Pvt. Timbers spots something out of the corner of her eye...

"KAMAKAZIES AT TWO O'CLOCK!!" she shouts. Two of the troopers join her in firing up at the bugs, knocking several of them out of sky very quickly.

Ron is in the same room as Kim. Unofficially, he is guarding his girlfriend. Officially, or at least what he told the rest of the troopers, he's keeping an eye on his best friend and covering the Northern side of the building. He glanced over at her for a second, her left side is still covered in dried blood and her eyes closed, but he could tell that her eyes were moving, indicating that she was dreaming. He sighs and went back to blasting the approaching warriors.

_"Man, this tanks" Kim complained to herself as she walked through the main hall of the SICON recruitment center in New York, the nearest SICON recruiting station to her home. She had just come from the officers desk where she had been given her assignment, which wasn't what she had wanted. She stopped and looked up at the massive emblem on the wall, which read "JOIN THE STRATEGICALLY INTAGRATED COLAITION OF NATIONS AND DO YOUR PART" with the SICON logo just above it. It was almost half a year before the war began..._

_Kim sighed and started heading towards the main exit, she had to head home to pack. When someone joins SICON, they are given a 48-hr vacation before they must report back to the recruitment center. Those who decide not to return after that time are discharged from the service with a "Term not completed" note on their profile and they can never enlist ever again, needless to say, doing that was on Kim's mind._

_"Well, Infantry it is" she resigned herself and reached into her pocket to grab her cell phone, figuring that she'd call her mother an give her the news that she wasn't going to be a pilot. She pulled her phone out of her pocket when she heard a familer voice_

_"KIM!" it was Ron "Hey, Kim"_

_"Ron? What are you doing here?" Kim has a stunned look on her face, she never would have expected Ron to enlist_

_"What do people do when they come here? Duh"_

_"You enlisted?"_

_"Yeah. You sound suprised" Kim turned and started walking towards the main exit, Ron followed_

_"I guess I never pictured you as the citizen type" Kim smirked, Ron just shot her a glare "So what'd you get?"_

_"What I wanted, Infantry"_

_"You wanted Infantry?"_

_"Let's face it, R&D is not for me and my math isn't good enough for fleet and all the other assignments were just boring"_

_"Ah. So why did you enlist?" Ron shrugged_

_"Eh, I guess I got caught up in the recruitment commercials"_

_"Sure" Kim says. Ron places his hand on the back of his neck _

_"So, what did you get?" Kim sighs_

_"I got Infantry"_

_"Really? Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we wound up in the same unit?" Ron grins_

_"Yeah, but I doubt it'll happen"_

_"Eh, you never know. But you sound disappointed"_

_"I wanted to be a pilot" Kim says with a hint of disappointment in her voice_

_"So why didn't you?"_

_"I tried. They said that my reflexs are good and my math scores are good enough"_

_"But?"_

_"But apparently, I'm not fit psychologically to be a pilot. So says the recruitment center's psychic"_

_"What? That's impossible"_

_"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!" Kim exclaimed "But I guess my "I can do anything" attitude means nothing when matched up against a INTEL psychic"_

_"Guess not"_

Ron fired a couple grenades into an inbound swarm of Hoppers, sending several of them crashing to the ground. What he didn't see was the Kamakazie sneaking up behind the swarm. When it got in range, it manouvered out threw up its thorns, straight towards Ron. He sees them and manages to dodge three of the four thorns, the last one, however, hits him in his left shoulder. He falls. But not before he manages to get off another grenade, taking out the remainder of the swarm of Hoppers and the Kamakazie in a large explosion.

He gets up after a minute and aims his rifle out the window, expecting to see a large horde of bug warriors. He sees only heavily damaged buildings and bug carcasuses. He let out a small sigh and took his left hand off the bottom of the rifle and let the weapon rest on the window ledge. He pressed his hand to his helmet comm after a moment

"Stoppable to Haragah"

"This is Lieutenant Haragah. What is it?"

"Bugs are clear over on this side"

"Same here. They seem to be retreating over here"

"For now"

"For now. Hope it holds" she pauses "How is Lieutenant Possible?" Ron glances over at Kim, her eyes are still closed

"No visible change"

"Understood. Haragah out" she closes the comm line. Ron sighs again and holsters his rifle on his powersuit backpack. He sits down, laying back against the wall and letting out a breath of relief.

SICON R&D base at Groom Lake. Code name: Area 51.

General Anne Possible sat at her desk, anxiously awaiting a report from Delta and Beta squad. Somewhat on the condition of her daughter but mostly on the status of the mission. The last transmission had promised them a care package that contained a new weapon R&D had developed. She had just gotten off the comm line with one of the other squads under her command. She sighed. The days of a SICON general was filled with lots and lots of... paperwork and decision making done sitting behind a desk. Part of her wanted to get back to combat. Back to the frontlines, really making a difference and doing her part.

She glanced up at the clock on the wall in her office and noticed that it was just after noon and she did feel kind of hungry. She yawned and stood up, walking out in the direction of the mess. It had been yet another early start to her day, they were becoming more frequent in recent days due to the bugs massive offensive against SICON forces. She had been used to having little to no sleep for days back when she was a trooper, but she had gotten used to the more normal-ish lifestyle and sleep patterns that came as a result of being a General. With a sigh and a yawn, she exited the command center building and started heading over to the mess hall, but glanced over at the entrance to the research labs. She quickly decided that her lunch could wait until she had had a chance to check on the progress of the care package she had promised to Delta and Beta squad.

She entered the building, swiping her access card at the front and quickly headed for the room marked "LAB A" where the scientist under her command was working on the project. When she had had to choose someone for this project, she had gone with her gut feeling and chosen someone she knew was smart enough for the job. Not only to get it done, but to get it done right the first time. She had called in a lot of favours to get this guy onto the staff at the base. She walked into the lab, which was bustling with people and equipment scattered all over the place. She entered in a very official fashion, hands together behind her back, standing up very straight, her uniform looking all pressed and neat.

"Progress report" she stated, directing the question at the lead scientist, who looked busy. One of his underlings replied to the inquiry

"We are almost done, General. The main sequencer still requires some fine tuning"

"How long?"

"A few of hours at least. We're still not sure where the problem is"

"Unacceptable. We need this weapon deployed now. My daughter is counting on it" she knew that would spark a nerve with the lead scientist, who was an old friend of Kim's.

She was right.

Though the man stayed where he was, tinkering with some of the tools, she could clearly see him freeze when she mentioned Kim's name, though only for a moment. She looked around at the rest of the scientists and engineers in the room and when she looked back at the project leader, she could see his hands going a little faster. She turned back to the man in front of her

"I want this weapon on the ground in two hours, no less"

"General, we simply cannot..."

"Two hours. No excuses" she turns away and walks out, heading back towards to the mess hall.

Back in Kaslo about an hour later...

The bugs hadn't been back yet and Ron was starting to tense up. He hated waiting and the bugs were making him wait for their attack. He had taken out a field ration pack and begun to eat when the comm buzzed

"Sergeant Stoppable, report" it was Lt. Haragah, he was startled

"I'm here" he replied and stood up, trying to seem that he was paying attention, he glanced out the window "No bugs here. None that I can see anyway"

"Copy that, Sergeant" she closes the comm line, not wanting to open up idle chatter. Ron sat back down, going back to eating his sandwich, whatever flavour it was.

He wasn't sure how long he was sitting in that spot (it was about ten minutes), but he soon heard a weak, but familer, voice

"R...ron?" Kim groaned

"Kim?" he got up from the floor and raced to Kim's side. She was slightly groggy, but waking up

"Ron, what's going on?"

"You've been unconcious for a few hours. Your arm was torn open" he paused and looked down into her eyes and removed his helmet. She wasted no time in pulling him in close and locking lips the split second his helmet was off. He resisted slighty at first, but only at first. She sat up slowly, as to keep their lips together.

Unknown to the couple, who were in a loving embrace, Pvt. Mallak had picked up the readings from the medical systems in Kim's powersuit and he was coming to check on her, Bonnie walked behind him and Sarah brought up the rear, deciding to check on the mission's C.O.. In a sense of great timing, Ron broke the embrace with Kim (though his arms were still on her shoudlers) just before Lucas, Bonnie and Sarah rounded the corner and entered the room.

"What the...?" Sarah said, a bit of shock in her voice. Kim whirled around and quickly said,

"Uh, Ron had a Kamakazie thorn in his side, I was helping him get it out" she said very quickly. The look on both Pvt. Mallak's and Lt. Haragah's face suggested that they didn't buy that excuse. Kim's right arm was still free and there were a few loose Kamakazie thorns laying about, she didn't look, but she grabbed one and help it up "See?" she said, hoping they would buy it. Bonnie stood behind Lucas and Sarah, not wanting to show off that she'd known all along, a large smirk on her face.

"Lieutenant, feeling better I take it?" Lt. Haragrah asked after a minute. Ron had already put his arms back at his side and stepped back from Kim. Kim looked up at the other Lt.

"A bit, my arm still hurts" Kim replied, her right hand clutching her left arm. She grimiced a little in pain and slid off the desk, onto her feet. She stumbled, but Ron caught her. She quickly jestured that he could let go. He did and she stood up and brushed off her powersuit. Pvt. Mallak was on her left side, looking over her arm "Well?" she asked

"Bone's broken, muscles and ligaments are torn" he reached down and grabbed a small bottle, spraying the foam over the rip in Kim's arm.

"That should keep it together until we get back to base. Then the medics can get a look at you" Kim looked over and smiled. She walked over to the window after he had finished.

"Lieutenant, sitrep" she said, soundling like she was back in command. Lt. Haragah walked up behind her

"We've held off a major bug ground assault, but ammo is beginning to run low. We've been promised a care package containing a new weapon from General Possible, but we don't know when it will arrive" Kim looked down and over her shoulder as much as she could without turning around

"The fence emitters?"

"We're getting a strong signal from all the emitters we placed. We just need to finish the chain"

"Then do so"

"What?" Kim turned around

"You heard me. As long as the bugs have backed off, we need to finish the mission we started"

"You are kidding right?"

"Lieutenant, do I look like I'm kidding? Get your squad out there and finish planting those emitters, NOW!"

"No"

"What was that?"

"With all due respect, no. I'm not going to risk my squad when the bugs could attack at any second" she protested. Kim was loosing patience "I say we wait until the package arrives and then we can..."

"AND WHAT IF IT DOESN'T ARRIVE? What then? We just wait until we're killed? Get out there NOW!" Kim stepped forward and put her finger on Lt. Haragah's powersuit. "Or do I have to pull rank?" Sarah stepped forward, looming over Kim (she was almost a foot taller)

"You can't pull rank, we're the same rank"

"Yes, I know. But under regulations, for this mission, I'M the superior officer" Kim stepped forward, "So follow my order or I will pull rank!"

"Why don't you go do it? Or are you too busy making out with your troopers?"

Ron and Bonnie had just been standing in the corner, spectating

"Look, you can almost see the lightning between their eyes" Ron commented, a hint of amusement in his voice, Bonnie just grinned for a couple minutes, then turned to Ron

"You two should be more careful, lest the whole millitary find out what you two are doing" Ron looked right at her

"It was her idea, I was the kissee"

"Sure"

"I was, at least at first anyway" Ron and Bonnie looked back at the two Lt.s just in time to see Sarah make that comment about Kim and Kim punch Sarah right in the face. Ron and Bonnie both had a look of shock on their faces.

"Now get going!" Kim barked. Sarah got up and wandered off, Kim's attack had obviously scared her enough. "Remind me to get her court marshled after the war is over" Kim sneered and turned to Bonnie "Go and set up sensors on the roof, we need to know if an attack is coming" Bonnie nodded and ran out. Kim turned to Lucas "Am I cleared for combat or should I take a seat?"

"You're fine. Just don't over use the arm" he smiled

"Thanks" Kim said and ushered him out of the room.

Ron walked over to the window and looked out. Kim just sat on the desk, her arms crossed. Neither spoke for about a half hour...

"I'm sorry, Kim" Ron said finally

"For what? I kissed you. I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was doing. It was like, there you were, I wanted to kiss you" she motioned with her hands. Ron just looked at her

"It's ok, I guess. We just need to be more careful" he smiled. Kim was going to look at him and return the smile, but an eerily familer screech broke the quiet. It was quickly followed by a louds shout

"BUUUGGGSSS!!" was called from the main room. Kim and Ron raced out.

"SITREP!" Kim ordered, Pvt. Timbers walked up

"Lieutenant, massive horde of bugs headed our way"

"Recall Lieutenant Haragah's squad" Kim turned to Pvt. Helena "Check our ammo reserves and building defenses" Adrianne nodded and ran off. Ron ran off back to his post, mainly because he had forgotten his weapon by the window.

"CLOSE THE DOOR!" Kim ordered as Lt. Haragah's squad ran though the front door, the bugs following closely behind them. Most of Kim's squad is upstairs and blasting ammo into the pack of warriors. Lt. Haragah fell over as soon as she got inside. When she got up, Kim walked over to her

"How many emitters did you get in place?" Kim asked, Lt. Haragah sat up, panting

"We're fine, thanks for asking" Kim glared "Another ten emitters. The South and SouthWestern sides are in place" Kim smiled and reached out her hand, Sarah accepted and Kim pulls her up.

"The bugs are moving in fast" Pvt. Volcors informs the Lt.s as they walk up the stairs

"What direction?" Kim asks

"West-NorthWest"

"Alright, set everyone up accordingly. And start running scans with the sensors, I want to know if any bugs try to sneak around our flank" Kim ordered as she took her place in a window, waiting for the bugs to come within range.

After a few minutes, Kim spoke into the comm to the troopers

"Alright, this is where we are, this is what we do. We don't know when or if the package will arrive, but we will hold this ground until we're killed or it arrives" she paused "Even out the mags, when you run out of ammo, you will drop your weapon and continue fighting with your sidearm as well as your machete and shocksticks and anything else you can. DO YOU READ ME?!" A loud

"SIR, YES SIR!!" came back over the comm from all the troopers at once. She didn't know about Lt. Haragah's squad, but Kim knew that her squad would fight and give it their all, including their lives. If it came down to it. They would fight the enemy with everything that they had, including their fists, if worse came to worse. She trusted them without reserve, without hesitation. Kim's left arm was still in pain from being torn open by the bug as she stared down the barrel of her rifle at the swarm of approaching arachnid warriors. She grimaced, but held her position, a large sneer on her face. So many atrocities and so much pain she had witnessed at the hands, or rather, claws of these bugs. So, she felt a strong sense of rage and a determination to kill these bugs and this last incident with her arm had driven her that much closer to the point at which she snaps. Her loss of control and the punch she had thrown at Lt. Haragah proved just how close she is.

She tightened her grip on the trigger as the bugs got closer, closer, closer. All the troopers knew the drill, they don't fire until she gives the order. Closer still, closer, closer.

Kim's eye's shot open and she lifted her head up

"FIRE AT WILL" she almost screamed into the comm and pressed down hard on the trigger, releasing a barrage into a large group. As she does, Ron and Pvt. Helena release rockets from the roof. The small missiles fly out and arc down as they reach their target, blowing up and taking a half dozen bugs with them.

Kim finds that she does her best under one of three conditions. One, she's released her competitive nature from it's cage. Two, she's very focused and calm and can concentrate better. And three, she's enraged and really pissed off. The latter applies here. Her blind rage is fueling her, two-thirds of every bug she's killed has been downed by a precise shot to it's nerve cluster.

Ron has gotten down from the roof after running out of missiles. Climbing down and back into the building is harder than he had though it would be. The roof hole was sealed before he could reenter. He ran over to the window and without really aiming, began unloading rounds into the mass of warriors. He turned to get a better look at some bugs, but his attention was again drawn to the inbound Kamakazies. He turned and fired a grenade up at them. Most of them exploded in a fireball, the rest manouvered off and took up firing angles, releasing their thorns as soon as they did.

Ron fell down, just in time to avoid the thorns hitting him. They, instead, hit the brick outside of the building. He breathed in deep and jumped up, turning around at the same time and fired at the flying bugs, sending the rest of them crashing down right on top of a few bugs that wer getting dangerously close to the buildings

"Score" he muttered to himself with a smile and turned back to the ground warriors when he noticed something on the top of the hill...

"PLASMAS!!" he warned everyone, not many heard him. They were too busy concentrating on making the ammo last as long as possible, but Kim heard him. She was walking right beside hime when he called it out, they looked at each other and both nodded.

"BONNIE, SARAH. TARGET AIRBORNE TARGETS ONLY!" she points to the sky, Bonnie and Lt. Haragah redirect their fire and Kim nods at Ron, who climbs out the window, javalin launcher holstered on his backpack.

Once outside and on the roof, he takes aim. But before he can launch, a plasma blast hits the ground just in front of the building, knocking him off balance. He falls off but manages to grap hold of the roof edge before he falls. Unfortuantly, he is in the worst position, right in front of Bonnie. Luckily she managed to hold her fire in time to not hit him, but she couldn't fire out until he got back inside. He begins to swing and jumps inside on the third one.

A couple minutes and some interesting acrobatics later, Ron is back on the roof, aquiring the targets for the missiles.

"FIRING!" he informs Kim over the comm and lets the missiles out of the launch tube. They fly towards their target and strike with deadly accuracy and the Plasma bugs explode in a bright blue flame.

The never ending onslaught of bug warriors continues until...

"RUNNING LOW!" Bonnie is the first to call it out. it is followed quickly by many of the other troopers shouting out that their ammo reserves are either depleted or close to it. Kim had had to hard a time firing her weapon out the window with only one weapon, so she had taken up too passing out the remaining mags to the troopers.

"I'M OUT!" one of the troopers from Beta squad yelled, Kim rushed over. The ammo reserves were quickly depleting and when they were gone, the bugs would be able to enter the building. Kim heard a scream and looked over to see a trooper from Beta, the same one she was bringing ammo to, being pulled out of the window and tossed into the massive swarm of warriors.

"This is never going to end" Kim said quietly to herself. Then it happened, the last ammo magazine ran dry and it was Ron's mag

"That's it, I'm out" he said. Kim spoke up

"Everyone pick a window, get out your machetes and shocksticks. We hold as long as possible"

"And then what?" one of the troopers asked, Kim looked at him

"If it's our turn to die, so be it. But we go out like troopers. CLEAR?"

"HO!" came unanimously from the troopers and Kim cracked a smile and motioned for them to move.

The bugs did come. They pushed into the building in force and soon the troopers had to fall back into the center of the main room, in circle, back to back.

Suddenly, just as the bugs were getting closer an explosion was heard and the bugs froze. Kim looked up in awe, she had been only a couple seconds from having her head torn off. She thanked whatever higher power had saved her. She'd be thanking that power again soon, her mother wouldn't let her get away from it. A loud BOOM came from outside and Kim looked out to see a large crate just outside, it had obviously been thrown down by a ship, because it had landed on several bugs

"L.T. General on the line!" Bonnie called. Kim nodded and looked at Lt. Haragah

"Get that crate inside" she orders, Sarah nods and motions for her squad to follow her. Kim motions for her squad to kill all the bugs in the building. They get to work.

"General"

"Hello, Lieutenant. How's the arm?"

"Still hurts"

"Ok. That crate has the new weapon we've developed as well as well as much ammo as we could fit"

"That should help. General, the bugs here, they just..."

"...Froze?"

"Yes"

"That was a less effective version of the weapon we sent you. It was a concentrated dose spread out over the area, but it will only last for about twenty minutes"

"Understood"

"When you deploy the weapon it will flood a 2-kilometer radius with the chemical that paralyzes the bugs for about two hours. Then it will disipate"

"Understood. That should give us more than enough time to complete the fence" Kim coughs "So how do we deploy it?" Kim asks as Beta squad finish dragging the crate. Anne pauses

"I'm going to turn you over to the lead scientist on the project" she presses a few buttons on her keyboard and the screen changes to a face that Kim hasn't seen in a few years

"WADE?"

"Hi Kim"

"You developed this? I thought you were in the refugee camps down in Australia"

"I was, but thanks to your mother, I'm now a civilian contractor for the millitary"

"Spankin"

"Yeah, but maybe.."

"...We should chat about this when I get back to base?"

"Yeah"

"Can do. So how does this thing work?

"Well, it's actually thanks to the flower you found in the Amazon, the one in the cave?"

"Oh, that one"

"Yes. We were able to weaponize it. I won't go into specifics now, but suficed to say, it will keep the bugs quiet for awhile while you plant the fence" While Wade briefs Kim and her squad on how to activate the device, Lt. Haragah and the four remaining soliders from her squad are outside, killing as many bugs as they can. It isn't hard, with the bugs immobilized, all they have to do is place three shots into the nerve cluster (two extra shots for good measure) and move on to the next one.

"Alright, we got, three minutes before the effects begin to wear off, we need to deploy" Kim says as the device is moved back outside. According to Wade, the deployment sequence is easy, the device just needs to be outside, in an open area.

"Ok, then press this and turn the nob 10 degress this way..." Kim says to herself as she activates the device "And that, should, do it" she says as she presses the activation button.

The device whirs to life and begins to glow a dark green

"Shego would love this thing" Kim comments to herself. No one else hears. The device extends up and up and up and then large mechanical arms extend out and begin to glow a dark red. All the bugs in the area sudden start moving, slowly. They screech and fall over (they lost their balance because of the device) and they don't get back up. Kim stares on in awe as a whole town full of bugs fall over, but are still alive.

"Unbeliveable" she says, her eyes wide open. She turns back to the troopers "Let's do this. Deltas,. get to work killing these things. Beta, finish planting the fence"

"Understood"

"The first thing I'm going to do when we get back, is have a long shower" Kim says as the troopers are on the transport back to base. After the weapon was activated it was a simple matter of killing the bugs as they lay in the same position and did nothing. Kim's squad took care of all the bugs while Beta planted the final fence emitters. After the emitters were placed and the fence activated, all they had to do was wait for the SICON reinforcements to arrive and take over the place. Delta and Beta squad were shipped out on the first transport back.

"Sorry, L.T. Med bay first" Max puts in with a grin

"Right" Kim sighs.


	12. Chapter 12 Holding the Line

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

Day 200 of the battle for planet Earth.

After the mission to the rockies had succeeded, SICON force launched several successful attacks on the bug mounds in the area and the bug assault in the Western coast of Canada and NorthWestern United States was weakened by an estimated 96. Also several SICON assaults into the surrounding area (central and Northern Canada and Central Northern and Western United States) were successful mostly because Delta and Beta squads had managed to take the small town. Unfortuantly, the weapon that was used to paralyze the bugs has been in extreme short supply. Very few samples of the flower were extracted so as a result, the weapon has only been deployed twice. Once in that mission and another time defending a high value outpost from the bugs.

On a more personal note, Beta squad's Lt. Sarah Haragah was given an offical reprimand. Had this been a time of peace, she would have been given a court mashel and most likely dishonorably discharged for disobeying the orders of her commanding officer. But currently, SICON command needed all the soliders they could get, so she was only reprimanded. Also, She was going to be reduced in rank, but at the recommendation of Lt. Possible, she was allowed to keep her command.

Delta squad had spent most of the last two months on assault type missions, pushing deeper and deeper into bug territory and most of the time, things work out. Unfortuantly, it was maybe too late to go too deep into now Bug territory as the bugs had dug in very deep and SICON forces were having a very hard time removing the bugs from their fortifacations. In mistake that would cost many lives and put a vital base at uneccesary risk, INTEL had overlooked a single bug mound just outside of Nevada...

That did prove to be a very bad mistake as Kim was, to say the least, in a lot of trouble. She was alone and surrounded by a massive group of warrior bugs. How she had become seperated from her squad didn't matter now. All that did matter was that she was surrounded, alone, low on ammo and running out of time...

A lone plasma bug was on a plateau ahead of her, and it was, or had been her squad's objective, but she didn't know what had happened to Ron and the rest of her squad. And per her training, she assumed they were dead.

A short run later and she was at the base of the plateau. Only two things stood in her way, a pack of warriors at the base and the steep climb. She thought for a moment and then backtracked and found what she was looking for, a large mountain that looked like it was about to fall apart

"Perfect" she muttered to herself and then re-backtracked to where the pack of warriors were.

She jumped up on a rock and fired a grenade into a group of bugs, killing most of them and injuring several others. She knew that she has gotten their attention, so she jumps off the rock and runs. Her plan works perfectly, the warriors have followed her. When she reaches her target, she fires a grenade up into the mountain and brings down a ton of rock and debris on top of the approaching group of warriors.

What she doesn't see is the warrior approaching her from behind. She spins around just in time to see it open it's jaws and lunge. She falls back to the ground and covers her head, the bug is about to bite her head off when it, and the rest of the area, dissapear. Kim looks up to see a hand extending out to her. It is the hand of Lt. Col. Tara Helders. Kim smiles and reaches up to accept it.

When Kim is standing on her feet again, the computer voice comes on

"Lieutenant Possible. Two minutes. 249 enemy kills" Tara grins "Lieutenant Colonel Helders. Two minutes. 271 enemy kills" Tara's grin grows

"Well, you aren't bad, for a desk jockey" Kim says through a smug grin

"Want to know what your mistake was?" Tara asks as she and Kim exit the holo projections room and enter the control booth

"Sure. I love constructive critism" Kim replies as she removes her helmet and places it on the rack "Wait, don't tell me. I was overconfident"

"A little" Tara answers "But that wasn't your worst mistake"

"Then what was?"

"I'll get to that. Several others include waiting to see if the rocks fell and assuming those were the only bugs in the immediate area"

"Then what was my worst mistake?" Kim askes, curious

"Betting me that you could kill more bugs in a sim then me" Tara's grin continued to grow

"Don't blame me" Kim remarked as she walked out of the control booth and headed towards the mess hall "You looked all sweet and innocent sitting behind that desk. How was I supposed to know that you were such a good shot and so good at killing bugs?"

"One, since when have you known me to be innocent? And two, you could have checked to holo room records to see that I practice about twice a week, usually on a difficult level"

"I guess I've just been too busy killing bugs for real to check the records" Kim said

"True enough" Tara agreed

"It feels so good to get a few days of R&R" Kim sighed as she and the Lt. Col. entered the mess hall at the SICON base at Groom Lake "Feels like it's been years since our last time off"

"It's been two weeks" Tara said

"Why do you have to be so smug?" Kim asked, a bit of hostility in her voice

"I'm not being smug" Tara said, defensivly

"You were too being smug. I don't have to be a psychic like you to tell" Kim grinned as she sat down with her food, Tara followed her and sat down beside her.

"In any case, are we still on for tommorrow?" She asked

"Wouldn't miss a chance to kick your ass in fighter combat" Kim said, smugly

"I dunno about that. I've logged some hours in there" Kim dropped her fork

"So what do you do all day, play around in the sims?"

"I have more free time than you, but not much more" she added, good choice of words. "I'm not out having fun in the field. I'm stuck behind a desk" Kim was about to reply when Bonnie walked up

"Hey Tara"

"Bonnie, hey. Have a seat" Tara gestured for the brunette to sit, she did.

"So what's up?"

"Apparently, I'm better at killing bugs than Kim" Tara said, much smugness in her voice

"You beat me once" Kim protested

"And I beat you in hand to hand yesterday. So twice" Tara continued to grin

"By how much?" Bonnie asked

"271 to 249" Tara wore a grin that stretched from ear to ear. Kim just sat there, eating her food. If that hadn't been just a friendly compition, she would have lost it, but she held her composure.

"Wow. Getting rusty, L.T." Bonnie commented

"Yeah, whatev" Kim said "But don't expect me to go easy on you tommorrow. I'm gonna kick your ass" Kim challenged.

Later that evening, the whole of Delta Squad (minus Kim, of course) lay on their bunks in their room, relaxing one way or another. Bonnie Rockwaller was writing in a book, what she was writing wasn't visible. But everyone assumed it was a diary. They were right. Max Hellena was listening to his music player. Adrianne Volcors and Pauline Timbers were each reading large novels. Lucas Mallak was playing a holo game and Ron was just resting on his bunk, thinking about his life and his secret relationship with Kim.

His train of thought was quickly interrupted when Kim's voice came over the comm

"Sergeant Stoppable to Lieutenant Possible's office" he sighed and got up. He knew that she was either going to want to "spend some time with him" or chew him out for something he'd done. It was most likely the former, since he can't think of anything he'd done in the past few days.

As he walked out, Max sat up

"What is going on with the L.T. and the Sarge. Seems she wants to see him in private a lot" Bonnie picked up on the statement quickly. Max turned to her

"Hey, Rockwaller. You know them from school right?" Bonnie sat up

"Yeah. Kim probably wants to chew him out for something. He always was a screw up in one way or another" she said. Back in high school, she could say those kind of words about Kim and/or Ron and not feel anything, but now, saying those words about them pained her.

"So what is their story?" Bonnie, realizing that she wasn't going to get out of this, sat up

"They've been friends since Pre-K. They did everything together. But suprisingly, managed to stay "just friends" for all those years"

"So do you think...?"

"No. Kim has standards. She wouldn't date someone like him. Even if she did date him, she wouldn't do that now. They're different ranks. Would be against the rules and Kim is always "little miss perfect" Bonnie sighs "Ron couldn't get a date with anyone. It was amusing back in high school" she suppressed a grin at the memories.

"Okay..." Max could tell that she was hiding something, but dropped the issue. Bonnie had made a pretty convincing arguement. Only Lucas didn't buy it, but he said nothing.

While Kim and Ron spent some "quality time" togther, the rest of the Protectors (except for Bonnie, who would be monitoring from the control booth) had been scheduled for some practice time in the simulator.

"I still think that something is up with the L.T." Max said as he put his helmet on and checked over his weapon.

"Maybe you should just drop it" Pauline suggested "Might not be a good idea to pry around into your commander's personal life. Besides, Corporal Rockwaller said that the L.T. wouldn't do anything like that" she said as the door to the holo room opened. Bonnie had been listening to the whole conversation and decided to interviene

"Alright troopers, heads in the game" she said over the comm as the troopers entered the holo room. Lucas had been chosen to act as the squad leader for this excercise and he jestured for the troopers to move out.

"Warriors at ten O'Clock!" Pvt. Volcors shouted out during the simulation

"I SEE IT!" Pvt. Timbers shouts and starts firing up. The squad are doing a very familier simulation, one they have done before, though not for awhile. SICON command uses actual missions to create new training scenarios. The mission to the town in the rockies has been used several times as a training scenario for a couple squads and has really shown what troopers are made of. A situation like that, even if it is just a simulation, can really show what a trooper is made of and how far they will go. That isn't the scenario the Protectors are in right now. Right now they are fighting a battle that was fought during the beginning of the battle for Earth. The Protectors have been at this for awhile now and unknown to them, Bonnie is slowly increasing the difficulty level, making the simulated warriors faster, harder to kill and stronger incrementally. She does this every time she is in the booth and no one has ever noticed. They just guess that they aren't getting better at killing bugs, when they in fact, are. He hope is that when they do get out to the battlefield, they will be better without realizing it

"RIDGELINE!" Pvt. Hellena shouts and fires his weapon in that direction, taking out a couple bugs in the process. Pvt. Mallak is engaging several Hoppers that are bearing down on them. The entire squad is so engaged in the battle that they don't even see the Tankers bug that that Bonnie added is almost on top of them. Pvt. Timbers spots is first

"TANKER!"

"I don't remember a Tanker bug being mentioned in this battle" Pvt. Timbers says and rushes out with a javalin launcher, targeting the Tanker and launching several missiles. They unforunatly, just impacted the hard, upper shell of the Tanker, doing no visible damage other than the small scorch marks on the side where the missile had impacted.

"WE NEED ANOTHER WAY TO TAKE THIS THING DOWN!!" Pvt. Mallak shouted ovver the comm. Pvt. Timbers got a grin on her face

"Lemmie at it" she suggests and runs off before anyone can say anything else.

"NO! WAIT, DON'T..." Pvt. Mallak starts, but she runs off, ignoring the orders that where about to be given.

"PAULINE!" he yells after her as she runs directly towards the Tanker, ignoring everything else.

With some agility, she runs and slides under the massive bug, right under to it's soft underbelly, while she avoids it's flame streams. With a grin, she grabs a small satchel charge and stands up so she can attach the charge, which she does. Once placed, she runs out from under the rear of the creature and manages to get far enough away before the charge detonates to be safe from the explosion, but she is, unfortuantly, still close enough to be splattered by the guts and goo that flies out from the creature when it is seperated by the force of the explosion.

Pvt. Timbers walks back to her squad, taking out several bugs along the way and she is grinning. While Pvt. Mallak scolds Pvt. Timbers for breaking orders, Ron walks into the control booth.

"Hey, Bonnie" Bonnie is chuckling, but turns around

"Uh, Ron?"

"What?" Bonnie points to the left side of her neck and then points at Ron

"You, uh, got a little bit of Kim's lipstick on your neck there" she bursts out laughing while Ron cleans it off

"That isn't lipstick" he says, but still cleans it off

"Oh? What is it then?"

"I dunno. I think Kim was eating some cherries when I walked in" he answers "I thought troopers weren't allowed to wear makeup"

"Most of the time. Generals are an exception. I know Kim's mom wears it"

"I meant besides Generals"

"Oh, well I like to wear it when I'm off duty" Bonnie smiles and puckers her lips to prove her point.

"In any case, how's the squad doing?" he looks out from the glass, onto the simulated terrain, Bonnie turns back to the window and adjusts the controls, making it harder by a factor of 3. Not a lot, but enough. So far though this particular excerise, she has made it a total of 24 harder than when it started, not including the latest increase.

"Not too bad. Most of these troopers will go on and do very well. If they aren't killed" she adds.

"You get me?" Pvt. Mallak places his finger on Pvt. Timber's chest armor, making his point even more definite.

"Sir, yes sir" she answers and turn back to the other troopers. The simulation ends and the troopers walk out of the big holo room and into the smaller control booth. Bonnie turns towards Pvt. Mallak

"Private, the Lieutenant expects your report on her desk by oh-six-hundred tommorrow" Lucas salutes and follows the rest of the troopers out of the control booth, headed back to the lockers and then the bunks.

"Wanna get in some target practice?" Ron asks

"Sure" Bonnie picks up two rifles and hands one to Ron before opening the glass window and activating a pair of holo-bugs.

Day 201 of the battle for planet Earth. SICON R&D base Area 51, Nevada.

"So what are we doing today?" Pauline asks while the troopers (minus Kim, Ron and Bonnie) are eating breakfast

"I dunno. I got some reading to catch up on" Adrianne replied

"I'm hoping that the L.T. doesn't want us in the sims today. I've had enough fighting giant bugs for a lifetime, or at least for today" Lucas says. Max is about to add something when the base alarm sounds

"All troopers report to your lockers. All troopers report to your lockers" comes a voice over the comm

"Oh what now?" Pauline complains as they get up and race off.

"L.T. what's going on?" Lucas asks when they are in the lockers

"Suit up. We got bugs headed this way" Kim says

"How far out?" Pauline asks

"About a twenty minutes" Kim replies, she is already wearing her powersuit

"So we have to hold the base until the base is evac'd?" Adrianne asks

"No"

"No?"

"No. According to SICON command, this base is too valuable to lose to the enemy. We are going to hold the line no matter what. SICON command is sending in several squads to find, locate and destroy the mound that they missed earlier. Until then we shall be fighting alongside the soliders of this base to defend it at all costs. Clear?" the replies were scattered and quiet, but Kim knew that they heard her and they understood.

"So how many are there?" Kim asks her mother as she heads to her position on the base wall

"I don't know. Hundreds probably" Anne replies. As they pass Anne's office, the general motions for Kim to wait a minute and she disappears inside her office, coming out a moment later with a pulse rifle

"Mom, what...?"

"I'm part of the millitary contingient on this base. I'm going to do my part to defend it" She smiles and jestures for Kim to continue walking "Besides, it's been so long since I've seen any decent comabt. I was starting to miss it" As the two ladies reach the outside of the building, the area inside the base walls is a hive of activity, there are many people running around, troopers and civilians alike. "Lock and load, Lieutenant" Anne says

"To the wall then, General?" Kim asks with a smile. Anne returns the smile and nods. Both ladies start at a dead run to their position on the wall.

Kim and Anne take up their positions along the wall and look down the barrels of their rifles at the approaching sea of bug warriors. Bonnie is absent from the squad, as she is in one of the base's wall mounted guns. Kim looks up and around at the all the troopers around her and she then looks over at her mother

"Well, General...?"

"To the end, Lieutenant" Anne grabs the small commlink attached to her uniform and speaks into it "FIRE AT WILL" she opens with the first burst of laser rounds into the horde of enemies. All the other soliders join in and open fire. The front and second line of bugs fall quickly as all the soliders are firing at once. Kim looks up into the sky

"KAMAKAZIES!" she yells and signals for the wall guns to focus on the flying bugs.

Inside the large turret, Bonnie is doing her best, she has redirected her efforts and is firing on the airborne threats. She gets one in her sights and unleashes a barrage at it. It is quickly reduced to bits and what it left falls to the ground and she allows a small grin to sweep across her face, but it quickly disappears as she aquires her next target.

Ron is manning a Javalin launcher and, against this many foes, isn't really bothering to lock onto targets. He is just aiming in the general direction of a group and firing. It is an effective mode though, most of his shots have taken out a good number of bugs. A couple have gone astray, but he blame's the guidence system or would, if he had time to think about it.

The rest of the squad are along the wall, firing from their pulse rifles. Kim stops firing for a moment and looks around into the base. Her attention is directed towards the vehicle bays. She gets an idea and turns back to her troopers

"HELLENA, TIMBERS!" they stop firing and look over at Kim "GET INTO THOSE MARAUDERS, NOW!" Kim orders, the two troopers nod and run down the ramp and towards the vehicle bay.

Pvt. Timbers heads for the Long Range Marauder while Pvt. Hellena heads for the Cargo Marauder.

"So much for our day off" Pvt. Timbers says as she climbs into her Marauder. Pvt. Hellena just chuckles for a second.

After powering up and making sure that they are armed and ready, the two head out and wait for orders. The platfrom just behind the wall isn't strong enough to support a pair of marauders, each weighing about a tonne.

"L.T. where do you want us?" Pvt. Timbers asks over the comm "We can't get up on the wall"

"I know" Kim replies "But come up behind me. You can still launch ordinance from there"

"Understood, Lieutenant" the two troopers respond and begin to move.

Kim fires another few bursts and then turns to another large group of Warriors. She has to quickly duck when a rogue Hopper manages to break through the line of fire and heads right for her. Luckily, it is shot down by Ron before it can hit her.

As she gets up, she looks over at Ron, who is extending out his hand to her and grinning as well as propping his launcher over his other shoulder, she returns the smile and takes his hand. When she is back on her feet, she turns back to the bugs and continues firing.

"Aquiring targets" Pvt. Timbers says "You got a lock?" she asks Pvt. Hellena

"Copy on that. Targets marked. But I honestly can't say whether I'm marking actual targets or just rocks."

"JUST FIRE!" Kim orders over the radio. The two marauders aim upwards and release several grenades, which arc over the troopers and fall right on top of the bugs. With a large explosion, about a half dozen arachnid warriors are burnt to a crisp and sent flying.

"CLUSTERS!!" Kim orders taking out her own grenade launcher and firing a few rounds into the sea of bug warriors.

"Let's rain on them" Pvt. Timbers says with a large, and somewhat sadistic, grin and presses the button that fires her Marauder's missile launcher. The missiles fly up and then fall back to the ground, but explode into many smaller missiles and rain down even more fire on the incoming warriors.

"I should really get into the sims more" Anne comments to herself. She is realizing that comabt has gotten harder since she was last on a battlefield. She isn' t doing too bad, but it is taking a toll on her. She just isn't used to frontline combat, but she does know that the troopers around her will be looking to her for guidence and leadership, so she intends to give it her all and nothing less for as long as the battle lasts (and it will last awhile).

Kim is starting to mark targets for the Marauders as per their requests to be able to actually aim from behind the wall, but she is running out of patience. She has set the targeting scope up on a tripod to give the marauders a 180 degree view of the battlefield, so she can focus on shooting the bugs with her rifle.

After about a half hour more, she is really getting fed up and walks over to her mother

"General, permission to call in an airstrike" she asks

"Please do and make it fast" Anne responds and goes back to firing at the bugs, killing a couple more. Kim nods and jumps off the wall platform, using her jump jets to slow her fall. She runs towards the comm center as fast as she can, the sound of gunfire and arachnid cries can be heard very clearly in her ears.

When she reaches the comm center, she places her weapon down on the small table and walks over to the main console. No one else is in the room, as everyone is on the wall, defending against the bugs. She sits down and presses a couple buttons, activating the comm array

"Delta leader to _Grand Canyon_. Delta leader to _Grand Canyon_" she says with some urgency in her voice

"This is the _Grand Canyon_. Go ahead Delta lead" Kim takes a second to compose herself and speaks into the mic

"_Grand Canyon_, requesting airstike at just outside the base at Groom Lake. We've got bugs on a massive scale"

"We read you Delta lead. Airstrike is inbound"

"Copy that and thank you. Delta lead out" Kim signs off and puts the mic back down on the console before grabbing her rifle and running back out into all the chaos.

Up in space, the lanch tube doors on the _Grand Canyon_ have opened and shot out several fighters who have gotten into formation and are headed towards the Nevada Desert.

Ron has since thrown down his Javalin and grabbed his rifle and is picking off as many bugs as he can hit. He has flipped his visor down and is preferring to get one hit kills rather than expending a lot of ammo and it seems to be working, but it isn't easy, hitting moving targets in a very small spot. But he seems to be doing good so far.

"AIRSTRIKE INBOUND!" Kim informs her mother, who nods and launches a grenade into the fray. Everyone can tell that the bugs aren't going to go easy this time, they want this base and they aren't going to take no for an answer. Not without much force anyway. Kim has repositioned herself to get a better firing angle and has wasted no time firing back into the oncoming mass of bugs. Right now she just wishes that they had some artillery. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees an incoming Kamakazie and turns to shoot it, but instead launches a grenade at it. The projectile flies right at the bug and impacts with a devistating force, blowing the bug into a flying (now falling) heap of goo.

"Delta leader, this is Talon one. We are inbound for airstrike. We will be on target in three-zero seconds" the leader of the air strike wing radios to Kim, who responds qucikly

"Roger that, Talon one" She says and goes back to unloading rounds into the crowded area.

Pvt. Mallak has moved to the other side of the base, but still behind the wall. He has managed to score many one-hit-kill shots on the incoming warriors, even though he really isn't trying hard to get one-hit-kill shots. He is, unfortunatly, starting to run low on ammo. He leans over the wall to get good shots on several bugs that have managed to get uncomfortably close to the base. They quickly fall over, but the bodies of the dead warriors are starting to build up and create a ramp for the live warriors

"I NEED HELP OVER HERE!" he shouts into the comm, hoping someone will give him some kind of help, be it ammo or another gun. He gets his wish, Pvt.Volcors is nearby and quickly makes her way over to him.

"Can't do anything without me, huh?" she asks in jest and passes his an couple extra mags. He just rolls his eyes and puts the mags into the pouch on his powersuit belt.

As he turns back to the bugs, a warrior manages to jump over the wall and nearly grab him. But he manages to back up and a moment later, puts a grenade into it. It blows up a few seconds later. He makes a quick decision and moves over to Pvt. Volcors

"CAN YOU HOLD THIS? I'M GOING TO GET A FLAMER!" he yells and after she nods, he jumps down and runs off towards the armory, kicking himself for not picking up the weapon when the battle started.

Up in the sky, the SICON fighters are bearing down on the target coordinates and making final preperations for the bombing run.

"Talon two, this Talon one. Confirm status ready for bombing run" The pilot says into the comm

"Copy Talon one. Talon two ready for bombing run"

"Comfirmed. Talon three. Status?"

"Talon three ready, Talon one"

"Comfirmed" the pilot says and reaches over to establish a comm with the _Grand Canyon_. "_Grand Canyon_, this is Talon one, we are prepped for bombing run"

"Copy that, Talon one. You are cleared for weapons hot"

"Confirmed, _Grand Canyon_. Talon wing engaging" the three fighters do a 130 degree spin and begin to close in on the target.

Pvt. Hellena and Pvt. Timbers are doing their best to get accurate hits on the enemy, despite the fact that they can't really see any of the enemy, aside from the occasional Kamakazie or Hopper that manages to break through the defensive perimiter created by the wall-mounted guns.

"Launch in three, two..."

"HOLD FIRE" comes over the comm, it is Kim

"Copy that, holding fire" Pv. Hellena says. Kim comes back on the radio

"Move over to the SouthWestern wall, the bugs are near to breaching there and we will need all the fire support we can get" she orders

"Copy that, L.T." Pvt. Timbers replies and begins to move her Marauder to where she is needed.

"So much for our day off" Pvt. Timbers mutters to herself as she continues to move to the new position.

"Look at it this way" PVt. Hellena says to her "After this we will probably get aonther couple days off" he says

"I hope so" she responds.

As they reach their assigned position, it isn't a moment too late, the bugs have begun to breach

"Oh, this is gonna be fun" Pvt. Timbers remarks and then activates her radio as well as her Marauder's pulse miniguns "L.T. the bugs area starting to breach" she informs her commander

"Copy that" Kim replies.

"Where the hell are those fighters?" Kim asks herself, as if she knew the answer. As if the pilots had heard her, she looks up, and after putting a couple lethal hits into a Hopper, she catches a glimpse of the inbound fighters and a smile appears on her face. But only for a second as her attention is drawn back to the warriors that are trying to hop the base wall.

As Anne Possible has finished reloading her rifle and turns back to the desert valley around Groom Lake, she is about to resume firing when she sees the inbound fighters fly over the battlefield and drop a large amount of explosives onto the warriors and a couple Tankers. The resulting explosions are very loud and made even louder by the fact that she isn't wearing a powersuit helmet, which would've dampened the noise made by the bombs and the screeches from the arachnid warriors. The midday sun is beating down rays of heat on her and combined with the heat enimating from her rifle and the heat created by the explosions, she turns and slumps down behind the wall, seeking relief, if only for a moment.

Kim takes a quick respite from shooting the bugs after the bombs are dropped to walk over to her mother and pass her some water, something Anne is relieved to recieve. Kim stands up and takes a long look out over the desert. After the dust settles, most of what she sees that isn't rock, is the carcasuses of dead warriors, with a few barely alive ones mixed in. She lets a small smile creep across her face, but it quickly dissapears as she spots the next wave of warriors approaching. She lets herself slump down onto the walkway next to her mother

"Up for a second wave?" she asks and looks over at her mother, who sighs

"Guess I got no choice" she says and starts to get up.

As soon as she is standing up and leaning on the wall, Anne lets out a sigh. Kim does the same.

As the bugs near the base, Kim realizes that this wave of bugs aren't as much attacking, as they are running. And she soon sees why. Two squads of troopers and coming up behind them, killing the bugs as fast as they can. Both Kim and her mother let out a sigh of relief and make the silent decision to see this out, not that it will last very long.

Bonnie sees this as well and moves the turret around and, not waiting for the order to open fire, opens fire. The large pulse rounds leave the barrel of the turret and make their way to the oncoming wave of bugs, killing most of the ones the shots hit very quickly.

In a move that would earn her a promotion to Corporal after this battle, Pvt. Timbers makes a quicky decision and begins to move her marauder towards the breach in the wall. When she reaches the breach, she uses the jump jets to fly over the wall. As she lands, she unleashes a barrage of missiles into the swarm of bugs, killing a lot of them, very quickly. She backs up and reaims over to the side and lets loose a stream of fire from the pulse minigun mounted on the side of the Marauder.

The second wave of bugs are quickly defeated and as Kim is scouring the desert outside of the base with many other troopers, searching for survivors, Anne walks up to her

"Good job today, Lieutenant" she says

"Thanks. Not to bad yourself. For a General" Kim smirks, Anne chooses to ignore the comment, but lets herself chuckle.

--

Author's note: I'm getting near the end of this story. All that remains is one more mission but it will be HUGE. The guest list for the next couple chapters is very large. bigger than any other chapter. Shego will be back, as well as the Roughnecks and several other characters. The war is coming to an end. After this last mission, I'm going to do a chapter or two (prolly only one) of Kim and Ron's life immediatly following the war.

LIVE FOREVER APES!!


	13. Chapter 13 You want Honey Follow the bee

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

Excerpt from the journal of Lt. Kim Possible, September 15th, 2081. Day 218 of the battle for planet Earth.

"_...And as such, we will see this mission through to the end, be it our end or the Queen's. I have nothing but respect for the troopers that have served under me and the troopers I have served with during the war. It has been an honor to stand beside them in battle for the last couple of years and I hope that we will survive, but I can't tell the future so I will continue to fight with all of my ability until we either succeed or die trying. To all those at home, mom, dad, tweebs. You are in my heart always. Know that if I don't survive..._"

36 hours earlier...

"Aw come on, tell us!" Lucas was pestering Pauline as Kim walked into the bunk room

"What is going on here?" she asked. Lucas spoke first

"Private Timbers has a crush on one of the troopers that were just transferred here" he said and covered his head. Pauline responded to that in two ways. One, she threw her pillow at him and second

"I DO NOT!" She said, but it was obivous she did and was trying to hide it. Kim smiled, she liked to see her squad like this when off duty, relaxing and friendly with each other, not too many cares, considering what was going on in the world. Kim was about to say something when the comm came on

"Delta squad to the war room. Delta Squad to the war room. Lieutenant Possible to General Possible's office. Lieutenant Possible to General Possible's office"

"You heard the voice, get moving" Kim ordered and headed out.

"I am so gonna get you for that" Pauline threatened Lucas. Ron was doing his best to not laugh his head off, but he couldn't help letting out a laugh.

"What is going on?" Kim asked her mother as she entered her office. Anne got up and walked over to Kim

"Follow me" she said and walked out. Kim followed

"Well?" Anne said nothing on the walk to the war room. Kim wondered what was going on.

As Kim and Anne entered the war room, Kim laid eyes on a familer, green skinned woman

"SHEGO?!" Shego was talking with someone else, but turned around to face her

"Hi, Kimmie" she said, the other person turned around, it was Lt. Rico

"Lieutenant" Kim saluted, Rico returned the salute "Either of you know what is going on here?" Kim asked

"Sorry, I have no idea" Shego answered

"I dunno. Command is keeping us in the dark about this one. From what I heard, it's big though" Rico said. Kim looked around the room, her squad was there, the six troopers of Shego's squad was there, Sgt. Anders, Cpl. Derrick, Cpl. Arsica, Cpl. Kalle, Cpl. Poute. Rico's squad was present as well, Cpl Gossard, Cpl. LaCroix, Pvt. T'Phai, Pvt. FLores, Pvt. Higgins and the two latest additions to his squad - Sgt. Zim and Pvt. Brutto.

Befom could say anything further, the main doors slid open and in walked two troopers, who took up positions on either side of the door, and followed by Sky Marshell Sanchez who was flanked by Tara and Dr. Director. Kim was in awe, but said nothing, since her mother cut in

"TEN HUT!" she barked and all the troopers came to attention. The Sky Marshell walked up to the projector and pressed a few keys

"At ease. This is your mission. We believe we have located the Queen bug. Colonel?" He steps back and Dr. Director steps forward, Tara at her side. Kim listens intently

"Thank you, Sky Marshell" she turns back to the troopers "We believe the Queen bug is here..." she points to a spot on the 3D map "In the Himalayan mountain range. INTEL was able to determine that she is some where in this area. Now, we will be sending you three squads in, but due to the high concentration of warriors, and we are litterally talking thousands here, we will be dropping in several squads of troopers here, a good distance away from the mountain, but close enough to draw out a good chunk of the guard warriors away from the queen and allow you three squads the chance to get in and take her out. This is not a capture mission, this is a Search and Destroy mission. Clear?" the three Lieutenants nod

"Who is in command for this mission?" Kim asks. Dr. Director hesitates, but before she can say anything, Tara steps forward

"It was decided at the highest level by the Federal Council, that this is an INTEL mission and as a result, an INTEL officer will be in command..." all three Lieutenants winced

"It was determined that their was only one officer who had spent enough time in the sims and dealt with enough troopers that she could be trusted with the success of this mission"

"So who...?" Kim asks again

"...Me" Tara says. Kim's jaw drops. But Generals Possible and Redwing step in before Kim can say anything. General Redwing speaks first,

"All three squads will deploy tommorrow at Thirteen hundred hours" General Possible steps in

"This mission is top level classified, so tell no one and do not discuss it outside of this room. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir" quietly comes from around the room from all of the troopers.

"Good. Dismissed" Dr. Director says, but before she can leave the room, Kim runs up to her

"DR. DIRECTOR!" she calls out, the lady turns around

"Kimberly, hello, and actually, it's Colonel now" She smiles

"Right, sorry" Kim salutes, the older woman returns the salute

"At ease, Lieutenant. How are you?"

"I'm good. So I didn't know that you were millitary"

"I am now. When the war began, I was asked to serve with INTEL"

"What about GJ?"

"Global Justice has been disbanded and reformed into millitary police" Kim is taken aback

"Uh, okay" Kim says, the older woman clearly looks somewhat upset

"I was disapointed at first, but it seems to have turned out for the better"

"Really?"

"Yes. I was suprised too. Their new assignment was to keep the peace on Earth, basically the same as before, but now they are in charge of all policing matters in the civilian population. But with the war on Earth, they can't do to much and have been sitting on the sidelines, managing the civilian population as best they can while we try to defeat the arachnid threat" Kim starts to walk away, figuring that she'd best get some sim training in before the mission

"Well, here's hoping that this mission ends this war" Col. Director puts her hand on Kim's shoulder

"I hope so too" she says and walks away.

The next morning, after breakfast (and a nice conversation with Shego), Kim heads is summoned along with Lieutenant Rico and Shego as well as Lt. Col. Tara to one of the secondary lab ofices, Wade's lab.

"Good morning Lieutenants" he greets them. They nod back

"So what's this all about?" Shego asks

"I have something for you, something that should help you complete the mission" he says, Kim sighs

"This brings back memories. Good times, good times" she says and then looks around at everyone after a minute and realizes that she was day dreaming.

"Anyway, here it is" he pulls back a cloth and reveales...a slightly mishapen grenade.

"That's it? A grenade?" Shego says after a moment, she is clearly not impressed.

"It's more than just a grenade. This explosive contains the last of Toxin B3 and the nerve agent used to paralyze the bugs that was discovered by Kim and Shego's squad. We call it Agent P2" he looks around at the leaders "Yeah, thrilling, I know" and turns back to the device "When it detonates, it will release a airborne mixture of Toxin B3 and Agent P2 in a gaseous form over a wide area, killing all the bugs within range. We are hoping that it will work on the queen and even if the toxin doesn't work, the paralyzing agent should keep her immobile for long enough for you troopers to take her out" he smiles

"How wide an area?" Rico asks

"Only several meters. Now be careful, this is the only one in existence" He places the grenade inside a small case and hands it to Kim, but Tara grabs it instead

"Thank you, Mr. Load. Is that everything?" Tara asks

"Yeah, it is"

"Then thank you" she says and walks away. Kim stays behind. She really hasn't had time to speak to Wade since she learned that he was on the base and couldn't pass up this oportunity. But, as she would quickly learn, indulgent social chatting would have to wait.

"Hey, Wade" she said. He smiled

"Hey, Kim"

"So, what's the sitch?" she tried not to chuckle. She had't used that line in a long time. Wade laughed

"Been awhile since I've heard that. But I can't chat right now. I have several projects on the go and your mother is really pressing me to get these finished"

"Oh, ok"

"I do have something for you though"

"You do?"

"Yeah" Wade goes over to his desk and after opening a drawer, he pulls out a small box and hands it to her

"What is this?"

"A bit of outdated and obsolete technology, at least by our standards today, that I saved and did a little upgrating to in my spare time" Kim opens the box and reveals a light blue device

"My Kimmunicator!" she exclaims "I haven't seen this since..."

"Since you graduated high school and enlisted?"

"Yeah. How did you upgrade this? It was at least a decade ahead of current tech when I had it"

"I added some new features that should help"

"Cool, like what?"

"Not much. I haven't had much spare time to tinker with this thing" he turned around "I have to go, I'm expected in the main lab" he walks out. Kim sighs and drops her Kimmunicator in her pocket and heads out to her office to grab her powersuit.

"GO GO GO!" Shego yells to her troopers, ushering them onto their dropship. Kim's squad are making thier way to their own dropship, Kim is in full comabt mode, her Kimmunicator nestled in one of the pockets of her Powersuit's belt. Kim's squad is the last one to board their dropship. As the Auburn hair-coloured Lieutenant settles into her seat, she tenses up as she thinks about the mission. She has been on countless missions against unknown numbers of bugs (and several against the Skinnies when they were under the influence of the control bugs) but none of those missions were as has as such high stakes as this one. None of those missions, however, would decide the fate of the Terran people, the outcome of the war against the bugs. Kim had gone on many missions and not just missions as an M.I. trooper, the missions she went on before enlisting, but none of any of those missions, both M.I. and non M.I. had made her this tense, this apprehenisve and all she could do at the moment was sit back in her seat and hope that she didn't screw up.

Tara (in her solid black Powersuit) had made her rounds to the other two dropships to make sure that the other troopers were ready for takeoff and she was satisfied that they were ready for this, she boarded the dropship that held Delta squad and took her seat next to Kim. Standard SICON squads are made up of 8 troopers (there are exceptions, the large regiments for example, but those are rare) and most of the SICON transport craft are tuned to this. The dropships have 8 suits in 8 tubes (technically 10, but the other two are the Marauders)

"Flight path steady. Drop in two-three-zero minutes" The pilot Delta squad's dropship said over the comm. The harnesses released and Kim got up. Tara followed her

"Kim, are you okay?" she asked her friend

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tense is all" Tara didn't need to be psychic to know that (though it did help)

"I can see that. Are you in the game though?" Kim craked a small smile

"Yeah, I'm here. Here to do the job..." she replied and started to walk towards her dropsuit, but stopped, but didn't turn around "...Colonel"

Kim would've liked to pull Ron aside for a good luck kiss, but she had had been told off by Tara AND Bonnie before the mission started about how her and Ron should be more discreet, so she just smiled at him and hoped that would be enough. She had made a decision, after the war was over (and she hoped this would be the end) she would resign her commission. She had fufilled her two year comittment to the Federation, and she was now a citizen, but mostly because she couldn't keep having the secret relationship with her squad's Sergeant. Keeping the relationship secret was too much pressure and she was never ne to succumb to pressure, but this was obviously an exception.

"Approaching the drop coordinates" the pilot said over the intercom, Kim roared back into combat mode as the alarm sounded

"ALLRIGHT APES, LET'S GO FIND THAT QUEEN!" she roared like a tigress

"HO!" they responded and climbed into their dropsuits, as did Tara.

Shego's squad was doing the same, their dark red powerusits almost blending in with the bulkheads in the red light. Shego held a grin on her face that signaled that she hoped that this mission was the kind that she had been longing for. Almost like back when she was a criminal and going up against Kim and the rest of the world's police and security forces. She hasn't had such an adrenaline rush since.

Rico's Roughnecks were also settling into their dropsuits. For Lieutenant J. Rico this would be his second mission as squad commander. He was nervous, but he knew that he could count on his fellow troopers (even though he was still getting used to having Zim as part of his squad) and his friends. As teh dropsuit sealed up around him, he echoed his predecessor, his teacher...

"LIVE FOREVER APES!" he yelled and they responded

"HO!"

"Commenicing drop" the lead pilot said. Outside, the circular hatches opened and 22 large, bulkly dropsuits fell out of the three small ships, falling back towards Earth. More specifically, the Himilayan mountain range. While Tara would be the commander for this mission, Cpl. Timbers would be the guide, as she liked to hike in the general area, or did before the war.

Kim felt a sense of familiarity as the drop suit broke away and she looked down at the fast approaching mountains and fired her powersuit's jump jets as she got closer. She looked over and saw Ron and the rest of her squad do the same so she turned her concentration back to the rapidly approaching ground.

It was cold, very cold. Even with the her powersuit's temperature control, Kim still felt the chill of the mountain air on her.

To say that Lt. Rico was nervous would be a massive understatement. Sure, all the troopers on this mission were nervous, but this is only his third mission as a Lieutenant and he still hasn't gotten being a leader down pat, but after his first mission defending Kaiana point (and the chat with Zim), he felt a lot more confident, but this took everything to a whole new level.

Not suprisingly Shego was in her element. Almost alone and in a extremely hostile enviroment surrounded by droves of the enemy. The only thing about this mission that made her even the slightest bit tense was the cold breeze against her powersuit. And even though she couldn't feel it, she knew it was there and she hated the cold, so that was enough. However, as nervous as they all were, none were quite as nervous as Tara. After all, this is not only her first field mission (not counting the sims) but her first mission as the mission C.O. so one can only imagine how nervous she was, but she didn't let it show. What she didn't know is that Kim could tell, though she also said nothing.

"This way" Cpl. Timbers said after a couple minutes and points to a small trail, or what appears to be a small trail.

"But SICON scans place the bug nest this way" Tara said, pointing in another direction

"I know. But this way will be faster. I've hiked this exact path before, I know" she said and began to walk along it. The area they had landed in was a small valley and they were now heading up a small path that looks to head up the cliff face.

The weather had been clear when they had landed and the first hour up the cliff was fine (except Kim swore she had spotted bugs at least twice and she wasn't wrong) but after about an hour, a snowstorm hit and visiblity hit near zero so the troopers had to hook onto each other through lizard lines.

About a half hour and several feet of snow later, Cpl. Timbers started to head off the path, pulling everyone else with her. Tara (who was right behind her) came up

"Where are you going?" she asked

"There is a cave about 30 meters that way" she pointed the way she was headed

"How do you know that?" Tara asked

"Hikers leave sensor flares in areas like this to signal a rest place in case of this kind of weather. Flip down your visor and you should see it" Tara did so and as soon as she did, she spotted the flare and started to head for it.

The cave was about 2 meters high and 2 meters wide at the entrance. Inside it was about 5 meters tall by 5 meters wide about about 10 meters deep. Once everyone was inside, Shego spoke up

"Why are we here? We need to keep moving" she said in a tone that made it obvious that she was slightly annoyed

"We can't see anything outside. We are safer and have a better chance of succeeding in the mission if we wait till the storm passes or at least dies down a little it" Tara says

"She's right" Rico adds "We're no good to anyone dead"

"I still don't think that..."

"Uh, Lieutenants?" Cpl. Gossard speaks up, he is near the rear of the cave

"What is it, Corporal?" Tara asks

"I think this cave goes on further" he places his hands on several parts of the wall "In fact, I'm pretty sure of it" he says

"How do we find out, that wall looks pretty solid?"

"I have an idea" Shego says, holding up her rifle

"No. This mission is to be stealth until we find the queen" Tara says, Shego sighs and puts down her rifle

"I have another idea" she gets up and heads to the wall, her hands glowing.

"Tara, how close are we to where INTEL thinks the queen is?" Kim asks

"We're close" Pvt. Jenkins puts in, his hands on his helmet "Very close"

"Good. Then we should be..." Tara starts, but Pvt. Jenkins interrupts her

"Bugs. Closing fast from outside" he says, his eyes closed. Kim goes over to Shego

"Hate to pressure ya, but how long is this gonna take?" Shego grunts, drilling though the rock is obviosuly taking a toll on her

"I can't, unngh, say. I don't know how much rock I'm dealing with"

"Well, no pressure"

"Sure, thanks" Shego says and pushes harder

"Take up defensive positions near the entrance" Tara orders

"Goss, try and see how much rock we're dealing with there" Rico orders and nods back to where Shego is drilling.

"Got it, L.t." he says and moves back. Cpl. Timbers takes his place.

"How far?" Kim asks Pvt. Jenkins

"They're right..."

"Well?"

"...Gone. I'm not getting the reading anymore"

"What?"

"Are you sure?" Pvt. Flores asks

"Positive. I was sensing a few warriors and then they just dissapeared. Gone. Like they were never there" he says with a concerned look on his face. Tara had a look on her face that was almost as equally disconcerning to the other troopers. So she got up and walked behind Shego

"Lieutenant Go, disengage" Shego's hands stopped glowing

"Why?"

"Move out of the way, please" Tara said, as she raised her weapon towards the wall Shego had been drilling though

"What are you doing?"

"Fire in the hole" Tara said and fired a grenade into the wall as the rest of the troopers covered themselves. It exploded but when the dust cleared they could all see thorugh the meter tall hole in the rock and into what appeared to be a large cavern

"What happened to "stealth"?" Shego asked, she was obviously annoyed

"Can't be very stealth when the enemy knows where you are" Tara answered

"What?"

"I picked up on the bugs Pvt. Jenkins sensed just before he lost them and those were psychic shadows, not warriors"

"Can bugs even do that?" Pvt. Higgins asked, his camera in his hand.

"Doesn't matter, trooper" Sgt. Zim said

"The Sergeant is correct, for the moment, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that they were there because we've been detected in one form or another and that takes out the need for stealth out of the equation" Tara said as she crawled through the opening

"So, now what?" Kim asked

"We go after the queen, stealth isn't neccessary now though"

"That's what I like to hear" Shego says and heads through the passage.

Inside the larger cave, the abundance of bugs nests but lack of bugs is clearly obvious

"Guess the bugs took the bait" Pvt. Mallak commented, referring to the troopers at the edge of the mountain range.

The three squads managed to head down a long tunnel and still had not seen any bugs, be they Warriors, Workers or other. Even though the troopers had been trained to keep their cool, but the fact that, according to Tara and Pvt. Jenkins, the bugs know they are there, yet they haven't been attacked and that is all manner of disconcerning.

"Anyone else feel like we're being watched?" Pvt. Hellena asks about a half hour later

"Because we are" Sgt. Anders says

"He's right" Tara says and turns to Kim "Lieutenant, close the tunnel behind us" she orders, Kim nods and gets down on one knee and aims her weapon.

She releases a grenade into the ceiling of the tunnel behind them and then runs to catch up as a cave in seals up the tunnel behind them. The troopers enter a large cavern soon after. The cavern is large (they can't even see the bottom) and daylight can be seen coming in from the top, as well as a little bit of snow. Several small rock bridges connect the center island and the tunnels on the walls

"This seems familier" Cpl. LaCroix says

"Like the bug queen's chamber on Klendathu?" Rico asks

"Seems like"

"If this is the queen's chamber, where's the queen?" Ron asks no one in particular. All the troopers take a second to look around the whole of the chamber, or at least as much as they can see.

"This can't be the queen's chamber, it was too easy to get in here" Cpl. Kalle, one of Shego's troopers, points out after a moment.

As if on cue, the tunnels in the wall begin pouring out warriors by the dozens, none of the tunnels are free from warriors, not even the one the trooper just came out of

"FIRE AT WILL!" Tara yells. Shego rolls and then ignites her hands around her rifle, firing off a burst of her special glowing rounds into one of the tunnels, several dead warriors fall out.

"TARGET INSIDE THE TUNNELS!" Tara orders a few moments later. Rico shifts his fire to the bugs that are on the Southern wall, pouring out of the tunnel that they had just come through

"So much for easy" he commented and blasted a warrior with a single, well placed, shot.

Two Corporals from Shego's squad were on the other side of the small island of rock, covering two of the tunnels, Cpl. Arsica and Cpl. Derrick. They are spec ops and as such, are totally focused on what they are doing and it seems to be paying off. Not counting the other troopers in Shego's squad, they are getting the highest warrior kills (if anyone was actually counting) out of all them. Another bug emerges from one of those tunnels and is quickly killed. It falls down into the black abyss below. Two more screech as they emerge and soon fall prey to the same fate as the ones before them.

Ron is on another side of the small island and he is shoulder to shoulder with Pvt. Flores and Shego

"So, Stoppable, did you have this in mind when you enlisted?" Shego asks as a couple more of her glowing rounds take down yet another warrior. Ron kneels down and launches a grenade into one of the smaller tunnels. The grenade explodes and brings down a ton of rock on top of a couple of warriors, crushing what life they had out of them as well as much green goo.

"I don't think so" he answers "I can barely even remeber the reason I enlisted anymore" he says and sprays a warrior with a burst of fire

"HEADS UP!" Flores shouts and lauches a grenade above them. A warrior comes crashing down a second later, Shego shoots her a smile

"I have a theory as to why you did, Stoppable" Shego says

"Oh?" Ron's eyebrow perks, but he keeps firing

"Yeah, she's over there" Shego grins and unloads a grenade right into a warrior's jaws, it explodes into a billion pieces. In truth, Shego was partly right, Kim was part of the reason Ron enlisted. But mostly, he had enlisted to prove something not only to himself, but to everyone who had ever doubted that he could. (and at the time, millitary propaganda was really high, Operation Pest Control had just finished and it would be another half a year before the bugs would return to Pluto, at least)

"I thought you spec ops troopers were all high discipline and stuff. Never spoke out like that unless off duty, or so I've heard" Shego stopped firing for a second and turned to him

"I'm an exception" she said and turned back to her shooting. Flores just shook her head.

Several warriors had managed to get up to the platform/island near where the rest of Delta squad (except Bonnie, who was over with Kim and Tara) and Pvt. Brutto

"This is insane! We can't hold out forever here" Cpl. Timbers remarks

"We know" Pvt. Mallak says and launches a grenade at a warrior, it explodes.

"Then why aren't we moving on?" she asks and fires rounds into a mass of warriors that manged to get up close, withing a few feet, but the combined fire of the Delta troopers push them over the edge.

"L.T.s know what they're doing" he answers.

"Tara, we need to move on" Kim says a few minutes later and scores a couple of one-hit kills

"I know" she says, taking out another warrior

"Well, got any ideas?"

"We should probably try and seal these tunnels" she pauses and looks around, the troopers have the bugs held back

"But...?"

"But even I can't tell which one leads to the queen"

"This goes on much longer, you're gonna have to guess" Bonnie says and goes back to her shooting. She manages to quickly take out another warrior. Kim stops firing for a minute and looks around her

"Colonel, you need to choose one" Tara closes her eyes and concentrates "COLONEL!"

"Alright, opposite the way we came in, its where I'm getting the strongest reading"

"Alright then. Shall I?"

"Please" Kim huffs up

"LAUNCHERS OUT! SEAL OFF THE TUNNELS! ALL BUT OPPOSITE THE WAY WE CAME IN!"

"SIR, YES SIR!" comes back and Kim allows herself to grin for a second, but quickly moves towards their exit. Shego heads the same way

"Anders, Kalle. Take point" she nods towards the exit. The two troopers cease fire, nod and run off.

"Zim, T'Phai, go!" Rico orders

"Sir, yes sir" the troopers answer and run to join the two spec ops troopers already at the entrance.

Ron, Bonnie and Cpl. Gossard have moved back and taken out their javalin launchers to try and collapse the side tunnels as fast as they can, while still doing it right. Not that it's overly hard, but the cave is dark and with the amount of bugs pouring in, the flash from the rifles of troopers trying to cover them can get near blinding in such a confined space and Ron is having a hard time aiming properly. Luckily, most of his shots are hitting the mark, but a couple have missed.

Kim has grown impatient and makes her move

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH! EVERYONE FALL BACK!" she orders

"Lieutenant, what are you doing?" Tara asks

"This is taking too long, we seal the tunnel behind us, the other passage is already sealed anyway" Tara thinks for a moment and then orders the troopers to fall back.

With the passage behind them sealed, the three squads of troopers move on and they get a bit of a respite from being attacked by bugs, until...

The three squads are walkling along a tunnel, hoping that they are heading for the queen.

"It should be this way" Lt. Rico says, pointing to a side tunnel

"And what makes you think that?" Tara asks

"Call it a gut feeling" he says

"Pvt. Jenkins?" Tara turns to the other psychic in the group

"Hard to say" he concentrates for a second and then points a direction "That way" he opens his eyes and looks. He's pointing right at the wall, inbetween the two passages

"Well, that solves nothing" Pvt. Volcors says

"Alright, we will spilt Lieutenant Go's squad down the middle. Half will go with Leiutenant Rico and the other half with me and Leiutenant Possible. Ho?" Tara says and looks around at the faces of the other troopers

"Ho!" as the troopers begin to move, the ground begins to shake

"MOVE IT!" Tara orders but it is too late. Shego, Lt. Rico, Pvt. Volcors, Bonnie, Sgt. Zim, Cpl. Kalle, Pvt. Brutto, Cpl. LaCroix, Pvt. Flores and Cpl. Derrick fall though as the ground opens.

As Shego awakens, she looks up and at her surroundings. Her radio is buzzing, she is apparently the last one to regain concoiousness.

"Shego, are you there?" it is Kim's voice

"Yeah, I'm here" she says groggily

"Sit tight, we're coming down" Kim says

"Don't bother"

"What?"

"You heard me. Move it"

"Why?" Kim asks, Shego's face has taken on the grin that tells the other troopers that trouble is coming and Shego is looking to have some fun

"We got bugs down here. Just proceed on mission. We will catch up later" Tara's voice comes on the comm

"Very well. Leiutenant Go, you are in command of the troopers down there. Take care"

"Will do, Colonel" Shego closes the channel and checks her rifle "Let's play"

"We should go" Kim says

"Yes, lets move" Tara agrees. As the rest of the troopers that didn't fall through start walking back through the tunnel, heading the same way they were, Kim hopes thay Shego will be ok. She started out hating that woman, but now feels as if she is a close friend and Kim hates loosing close friends. She quickly reminds herself that she is Shego, she'll be fine.

A few minutes later and the tunnel ends and opens up into another large cavern. This one doesn't have a small center platform, it is long, it stretches farther than anyone can see

"Any way around?" Tara answers

"No, we'll have to go through..." she trails off as she steps up to the ledge "Oh my..." Kim steps up to the ledge and her jaw drops. The cavern is filled with warriors. From a brief glance, Kim guesses that there are at least a thousand warriors in this cavern.

"Back track?" Kim asks

"No choice" Tara answers

"Phew, I'd hate to have to go..." Ron starts but before he can finish, the ground begins to shake and the tunnel they had just come from caves in. "Guess we do this the fun way then, huh?" he asks and looks at Kim. Kim looks at Tara

"Well, Colonel?" Tara smiles and quickly responds

"Lock and load"

--

Author's note: Sorry if I over-hyped this chapter, but trust me when I say that I am building to something. How the troopers will get out of this one should be interesting. Next chapter: the second last chapter of this story!


	14. Chapter 14 The Final Dance

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

Shego is running, she's running for her life though several tunnels, away from the warrior bugs that are chasing her and the troopers who fell down the chasm when it opened. She doesn't show it, but she is terrified. The most she could look forward to if she was ever caught in her old career, was prison. If she was caught now, she would most likely be killed, torn apart in a fashion reserved for the most vicious of psycopathic murderers, so she ran.

Rico wasn't as scared, but was still a little (when going up against giant bugs intent on killing you, who wouldn't be even a little scared?) His weapon, just like Shego's, was behind him, firing blindly into the the tunnel behind them. He could hear the screeching of the arachnid warriors behind him.

As they come up to a split in the tunnels, Rico glances over at Shego, who nods.

"DEFENSE!!" she yells and all the troopers take up line positions, ready to fire.

The warriors approach. If they had any kind of intelligence, they would turn away as soon as they saw the troopers in a line, weapons at the ready. But the Warrior caste of the Bug army have a brain only complex enough for movement, killing and to identify targets. They are incredibly stupid, but make up for the lack of intelligence with their numbers.

Shego is kneeling down, weapon on her shoulder and aimed at the on coming threat, waiting to give the order to fire. She can tell that everyone else is tired, but they will hold to their duties and their weapons.

"FIRE!" she orders as the bugs get within 10 meters and unleashes a grenade at the closest warrior. It dies in a fireball and takes two other bugs with it.

The troopers are all tired, normally, it would take more than this to wear them out, but the hike up the mountain combined with all these warriors is tiring them out, even Shego is feeling a little more tired than usual, but keeps firing on the enemy.

Pvt. Flores grinds her teeth and fires a well placed round into the nerve cluster of a warrior, then another. As she is about to fire another shot, her weapon beebs

"I'M OUT!" she yells out and waits for a response, hoping that someone will toss her a mag

"HERE!" Cpl. Kalle says as she tosses her a mag.

Shego doesn't want to waste time, she she goes to a last ditch order

"DERRICK, H.E. GRENADE! NOW!" Shego orders as she hits a bug with a plasma-enhanced round. The round burns right through the warrior, leaving it with a small flame in its mid section as it goes through one more before finally stopping in a third warrior.

Kim takes a moment before the charge to reflect on everything that has happened to her and not just over the course of the Bug War, but her life in general. Her missions during high school, her enlisting (and having to deal with Sgt. Barkin as her drill instructer). Entering the war, getting promoted all the way up to Lieutenant (skipping Officer's Combat School along the way). Becoming involved with Ron. Teaming up with Shego and fighting the bugs on Earth. It all seemed like a blur at the moment, but she shook her head and re-focused her attention back to the assault that was to come.

"So how are we going to do this?" Ron asked

"We're gonna throw some grenades here, clear out the immediate area and draw the bugs attention" the response to that was almost unanimous from all the troopers, including Kim

"What?" Tara didn't answer, she instead turned to Shego's top-kick, Sgt. Anders

"Sergeant, before we go, fire a missile directly towards the back of the cavern, we need to see how far it is. Personally, I'd rather not take on all those warriors with just the firepower we have and there might be tunnels we can't see that will let in more bugs. Best thing to do is go over"

"If only we had a marauder" Kim groaned, most of the troopers got her meaning.

"Check your rigs. MOVE IN FIVE!" Tara orders

Soon after, all the troopers line up on the ledge, ready to fire down at the bugs. Ron looks over at Kim, who is busy preparing her weapon. Ron looks over for a minute, then sighs and goes back to what he was doing.

Tara looked up from her weapon, all ready to go. She hoped that everyone else was too and as she looked around at the faces of the soliders near her, she could tell that they were scared, but ready to go and fight. To the end if need be.

"FIRE!" Tara ordered to Sgt. Anders, who let fly the missile. The purpose being, to see how far back the cavern went and if there was any way out..

A few seconds later, a large explosion could be easily heard and Kim whirled her head around, expecting to see a large ball of flame heading towards her, she had momentarily forgotten that the passage behind her was sealed. So of course, she saw only rock. But when she turned around to face the cavern, she couldn't see the missile anymore

"Did it impact?" she asked

"No, it was hit by a falling rock" Tara answered glumly

"Fire another one?"

"No time" Tara said, picking up her rifle. Kim looked out over the cavern, the warriors had spotted them and were headed their way. She clenched her jaw and unholstered her own weapon from her powersuit backpack.

"FIRE AT WILL!" Tara yelled and unleashed a barrage into the oncoming sea of warriors. She moves her aim closer to the side and pulls the trigger hard, almost breaking her weapon. A few bursts and several dead warriors later...

"STOPPABLE, TEN O'CLOCK!" Cpl. Arsica yelled, firing a small burst into a warrior, the shots go right though the nerve cluster and spraying bug goo out of it. Ron turned and fired a shot into the warrior, but was too late, the bug had gotten too close and it dug its pincer into his arm before he could kill it fully. He didn't scream, but he groaned in pain. Luck for him, Kim wasn't nearby or would have rushed over. While that did sound like something he would have liked, they were in the middle of a battle and he did try to distance hiself from her just incase this kind of thing happened during a firefight. He didn't want her mind to wander to his injury, besides the bug had only pierced his arm, no vital organs or anything he desperatily needed. But regardless, he kept fighting. He placed several more rounds into a couple more warriors and launched a grenade behind them, blowing up several more.

Kim is on the other side of the line of troopers, firing her weapon into the sea of oncoming warrior bugs. She stops firing for a second and looks up at the ceiling. She thinks for a second and decides to try her idea. Backing up, Cpl. Poute takes her place as she goes for the nearest Javalin launcher. Picking it up, she starts to move back to where she had been, Tara stops her

"What are you doing?" she asks. Normally, Kim would have made some remark along the lines of "bringing down the house" but she didn't

"I'm doing what needs to be done. We're running out of ammo and time here" Tara thought for a moment and released her grip on Kim's arm. Kim was slightly suprised, but didn't think much of how easily Tara had been convinced, at least not at this moment.

Moving back into position, Kim unleashed hell on the bugs. Literally. She launched all the missiles in the mag as fast as the weapon would allow her. For this mission, the missiles were not loaded with miniature nuclear warheads, for obvious reasons. The missles streaked towards their targets, leaving a trail of smoke behind that quickly dissapated.

They all impacted their targets with deadly accuracy, exploding into giant fireballs. A few seconds later the rocks that made up the ceiling began to fall and it was at this point that Kim, looking up at the ceiling, hoped and prayed that she hadn't just made an epic screw up.

Unknown to Shego and the troopers that had fallen below, they were right under the cavern where Kim and the rest of them were holding off the bugs. They were desperatly trying to find a way out to either the queens chamber or join up with the rest of the troopers when they felt the shockwave from the missiles Kim had fired. They had just been walking, not having enountered any more bugs. But when they heard the blast, Shego followed her instinct

"MOVE IT!!" she yelled to the troopers and didn't even wait for them. She once again, ran for her life. It was a good thing she had made that decision, because a few seconds later and the spot they had been standing in was covered by a ton of falling rock.

About a half hour (and suprisingly, no bugs of any kind) fate gave the troopers a bit of a reprive.

"We have to be getting close" Pvt. Brutto said "Queen has to be around here somewhere. INTEL said!"

"One thing to know about INTEL..." Flores started, but shut up as Shego rasied her fist beside her head in the millitary hand signal for "shut up and stop moving".

"Rico moved as quietly as he could to beside Shego

"What is it?" he asked quietly

"Something around the corner" she replied. They were approaching a fork in the tunnel. Shego crouched down and moved quietly, Rico directly behind her. The other troopers were quietly taking up ambush positions.

The wait seemed to take hours, Shego was laying back against the rock wall, waiting for whatever to come around the corner so she could ambush it. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Finally she got impatient and jumped up and out into the adjoining tunnel, her weapon drawn.

It is a good thing that troopers are trained to check their targets before firing, cause if Shego hadn't, she would have put several rounds right into Tara's chest

Kim and the troopers quickly raised their weapons when they heard movement, but lowered again when they saw that it was the missing troopers, not bugs.

"You okay?" Kim asked,

"Yeah, no injuries. A few close calls though" Shego answered.

About twenty minutes later, the group of troopers walked into yet another large cavern, but this one was different. It was another one with a large island in the center with many tunnels going out of the walls. The main difference was that this one was crawling with warriors already and in the center, the queen. The large bug roared at the troopers and all the warriors immediatly charged.

Kim knelt down on one knee and fired a burst at the oncoming warriors. Tara made a quick decision

"STOPPABLE, GO, KALLE, VOLCORS, FLORES, GOSSARD, TAKE OUT THE QUEEN AT ALL COSTS! DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE BUGS HERE!!" she ordered

"SIR, YES SIR!" they answered and grabbed their grappling guns.

The six troopers rappelled up the cliff as the rest of them held off the oncoming warriors. As they got to the top, Shego spoke up

"So how we gonna do this?" she asked as the queen roared again down below and turned to a tunnel

"Queen's got a hard shell" Gossard said "Got that grenade?" Shego nodded and reached into her pocket and pulled out the special grenade that Wade had cooked up for them

"Right here" she said and put it away

"I say we use it" Ron suggested

"We still need to get close" Flores said

"That's what the jump jets are for" Ron grinned and hit the activation button. Shego grinned and activated her own jets, everyone else followed suit.

"I'M RUNNING LOW HERE!" Zim yelled out. The troopers are starting to run low on ammo and still have no word from the troopers that went after the queen. It has been almost twenty minutes.

Soon after, most of the troopers run out and Kim decides that they need an advantage, even if only temporary. She quickly remembers that she has her Kimmunicator in a belt pocket. She reaches in to grab it.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Rico shouts at her,

"TRYING TO BUY US SOME TIME!" Kim snarls. "Come on, come on, come on, Wade must've put something in here that can help us" her fingers ran across the keys, going through the inventory.

After a couple minutes of searching, she finally finds something that can help, she holds the small device up high

"CEASE FIRE!" she yells. The troopers stop, confused. Kim hits another button and quickly, all the troopers are enveloped by a shield, eminating from the device. "That should buy us a few minutes...

"UP HIGH, TEN O'CLOCK!" Shego yells, Gossard moves his weapon and fires a burst

"HERE!" Ron yells "QUEEN IS THIS WAY!" he points down the passage

"WELL DUH!" Shego yells back and fires a grenade at a warrior, it bouces and explodes in mid-air, still killing the bug, but raining shrapnel down on it and opening a lot of wounds.

"Shield is about die. Everyone ready?" Kim asks and grabs her weapon. All the ammo has been evened out among the remaining troopers as was best possible and they are ready to go

"Ready" Tara says "Drop it" Kim nods and hits the button on the small device. The light blue shield disappates into thin air and the troopers resume firing on the bugs, killing them quickly, but not quickly enough to halt their advance. They keep coming. The troopers keep firing. Neither side willing to yield.

"There she is" Ron says. The troopers are sneaking up on the queen as quietly as they can. Shego glances up on the ledge and fires a round as warriors start coming down the side

"THROW THE GRENADE!" she yells and tosses Ron the grenade. He catches it and jump jets towards the queen, nearly missing a couple thorns from a Kamakazie. Once he gets in range, he throws the grenade as hard as he can, right towards the queen.

The small device explodes right in front of the queen, right within the kill radius, but as the dust clears, it is obvious that the queen isn't dead, but it is also obivious that Agent P2 has had an effect on her, though diminished. She can only move her top half as she flails about.

"Alright, guess we're gonna do this the hard way..." Ron grabs a grenade out of his pocket and runs towards the queen as fast as his legs will carry him. He jumps and throws.

The grenade hits it's mark and dives right down between the queen's jaws. Her whole head explodes a few seconds later.

Kim is the last to run out of ammo. But as she does and prepares to be killed by the jaws of a bug, the giant insect stops and pulls back. All of them do. They all lay down. Kim looks around at the other trooper and nods. She pulls out her machete and begins to hack away.

All around the world, in many engagements between SICON and Arachnid forces, the bugs stop. They stop killing, stop moving, stop try to defend themselves. In a matter of minutes, thousands of bugs of all castes are killed without mercy.

--

Author's note:

The queen is dead, the bugs have nothing to fight for, nothing to protect. But this ain't over yet. One more chapter remains!


	15. Chapter 15 Endings for some

Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

As the shuttle touches down on the landing pad at SICON base at Area 51 in the Nevade desert, the ramp lowered and out walked three SICON M.I. squads; Delta Squad A.K.A. Possible's Protectors, Alpha team A.K.A. Rico's Roughnecks and Spec Ops team Bravo. Outside was a large crowd of hundreds of milltar personnell with many civilians and some Citizens mixed in. All of them cheering, hollering and some were even screaming the names of some of the troopers. The Roughnecks had done this before, but this time, as they walked down the ramp, Carl Jenkins got no sense, nothing to indicate that the queen was alive. They had all stood around the headless, dead body of the queen and smiled. As they walked down the ramp, Kim allowed herself to let a deep breath out.

The war was over. Really truly over. They didn't have to fight anymore.

As the troopers reached the end of the carpet that had been layed out for them, they stepped into the command center of the base and stood in a line formation.

Sky Marshell Sanchez, along with Col. Director and Generals Possible and Redwing, stood behind the desk

"Congradulations troopers" the Sky Marshell said with a smile "You've ended this war for good" he turned "Sergeant Stoppable, I hear that you're the one responsible for killing the queen" Ron swallowed. Usually, if he was called on by someone with real authority, he was going to get chewed out. Not the case this time. The Sky Marshell walked around, followed by Col. Director, who was holding a small case. The man held out his hand to Ron, who took the man's hand in a friendly handshake. After it was done, the Sky Marshll stepped back and allowed Col. Director to step forward and open the small box. Ron's jaw almost dropped. Col. Director spoke

"For going above and beyond the call of duty and exemplary conduct under fire and for taking down the worst enemy mankind has ever known, Sergeant Ronald Stoppable, you are awarded the Terran Medal of Valour" she said in a very offical tone. She nods over to General Possible who steps forward and pins the medal on Ron's dark jumpsuit.

The celebration parties happen, to say the least. Kim and Ron wander off about halfway through and head to Kim's office for a party of their own and it's the best few moments of private time between the two that they've ever had. Though they get back as quickly as possible to avoid being found out.

The next day, in General Possible's office, Kim and her mother are chatting in a manner that is much more calm that it had been for the last 8 months.

"So, how are you and Ron?" Anne asks, Kim sighs

"We're good" she answers, Anne looks at her

"You don't sound good"

"Well, Mother..." Kim starts. Anne sits down at her desk, knowing that Kim wants to talk to her mother, not her C.O. "I don't think I can keep doing this "secret relationship" for much longer"

"So what are you going to do?"

"Resign" Kim answers with a sigh, Anne looks at her with a stare.

It takes her a minute to fully understand what Kim had said. when she did, she didn't say anything further on the subject.

"Well, I uh. We have another mission for you"

"I thought the war was over?"

"Well, offically it is"

"But unoffically?" Annd stood up straight

"Well, when the queen was killed, all the other castes stopped fighting, but they didn't just lay down and die, they are still alive. So all active squads are going out again to secure areas. Once an area is deemed seucre, by both ground forces and orbital satellites, we're going to start moving the civilian population back" This is genocide. Normally, Kim would have been openly opposed to such a thing, but in this case she made an exception

"So this will be an extermination mission?"

"Yes, it will be..." she paused and looked at Kim "...Major" Kim looked at her

"What?"

"You heard me"

"I'm being promoted?" Anne put down her computer pad

"Well, according to Col. Helders, it is because of you that most of the troopers survived that mission. I had a chat with brass and they've authorized your promotion to Major" Anne smiled. Kim was in shock

"What about O.C.S.?" she asked. Anne let out a laugh

"You fought successfully in the two biggest campaigns of the Bug War. I say that takes the need for Officer's Training School out of the picture. But you can still attend, if you wish"

"Maybe, so what's the mission?"

"Clear out Middleton" Anne answered "Infrasat systems will tell you where the bugs are. SICON command is putting together extermination squads, but until they're ready, we have to make do with troopers. Once you get back, we'll talk about your career" Anne smiles and hands Kim a small box. Kim opens it and finds the rank pins of a Major.

"Heads up troopers" Kim says as she walks into the Protectors bunk, proudly wearing the pins of a major

"Hey, KP" Ron says with a smile. Bonnie notices the new pins

"What's with the pins, L.T.?"

"That'd be Major, Corporal" Kim responds with a grin. All the troopers stand up and applaud "Thanks" Kim says "Now, we got a mission. We're clearing out my hometown of Bugs" she says.

The transport chopped touches down at the Area 51 base the next day and Delta squad walks down the ramp. During the mission, Kim had been delighted to know that her house had not been totally obliterated. It just had a couple large holes in it. Ron hadn't been so luckly. his place had been walked on by either a tanker or a plasma, from what he could tell. Bonnie was in the middle. Her place hadn't been totally obliterated, but only half of it was standing. The other half was rubble.

The mission had actaully gone as expected. Many bugs were lying around and all they had to do was go up and fire a couple rounds into the nerve cluster and move on. It was almost like that mission with the paralyzing agent, up in Canada, Kim had thought. There had been no suprises, no real threat to them (though Ron somehow twisted his ankle) and Major Kim Possible felt a sense of relief when she saw her town. After basic clean up, a link to the satcoms checked the location of every bug in town and the Protectors, in consort with two other squads, managed to clean up every bug in and under town.

She was now in General Possible's office. Waiting for her mother to call her in and talk about her career. She had decided that she would resign, just so she could be with Ron in the open, not secretly.

"Here you are Major" Anne handed her daughter two forms. Kim looked at them.

"What're these?"

"Well, you have a choice. You can go ahead and resign, you've served your two years and then some, and you can be a citizen. Or you can go on inactive retirement and still have all that" Kim didn't even think about it. By the time Anne had finished speaking, Kim had signed the Inactive Retirement form.

"Alright then, Major. You are relived from service until needed or you choose to return" Anne said and saluted. Kim stood up and returned the salute.

Before she returned to the bunk room, Kim headed to her office and changed into her civilian, no, Citizen clothes.

As soon as Kim entered the room, she looked around for Ron and when she spotted him she lunged at him like a lioness lunging at it's prey, only she didn't tear into his neck. She jumped into his arms and he stumbled backwards, suprised by her actions

"Uh, Hey KP" he said. she kissed his cheek. All the other troopers just stared in amazement, jaws open. After a minute, they all looked over at Bonnie, who was trying her best to fake a suprised look. And failing horribly

"You knew about them, didn't you?" Adrianne asks. Bonnie stutters

"I, uh... no, I mean. I uh, NO!" she said, caught off guard.

"Oh you did" Max says. Bonnie doesn't answer, instead dives back into the book she was reading before Kim came in.

A few hours later, over dinner, Kim makes the annoucement

"Alright, listen up. you're all being given a choice, those of you that heven't finished your two year term are being reassinged. Ron, Bonnie, you either continue to serve, or go into inactive retirement like me" she said. The troopers reply was scattered at best.

In the end, Ron and Bonnie opted for the "inactive retirement" option over being reassinged. The rest of the squad got reassinged, though Kim managed to convince her mother to keep them together, though she forgot to ask where. Area 51 was deemed as General Possible's new command, so she didn't get a desk at the new SICON HQ on Owahu when it was finished being rebuilt, a couple months later.

The transport carrying the now retired Corporal Bonnie Rockwaller, Sergeant Ronald Stoppable and Major Kimberly Possible touches down inside the the SICON base outside of Middleton that they had destroyed on an eariler mission and is now being rebuilt. As Kim stepped off the ramp and onto the solid ground, she looked up at the sky and took in a deep breath. Ron walked up behind her and put his arm around her shoulder. She looked over and him and smiled.

THE END

--

Author's note: Well that's that. This fic be done. I hoped you enjoyed reading it. However, if you think that this crossover is finished, THINK AGAIN! I have plans for a sequal that will see Kim return to the battlefield and the bugs make a comeback. I'm not going to say how, the only other thing I will say is that it shall take place roughly 22 years after this story.


End file.
